


Stories of Us

by HonorH



Series: Being Us [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Camp Half-Blood, Drew is the Worst, F/M, Gen, M/M, Will is the best big brother ever, nico is a badass, the Apollo cabin is weird
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-10-08 05:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10379208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HonorH/pseuds/HonorH
Summary: A collection of one-shots associated with my "Being Us" series





	1. The Break Up Story

**Author's Note:**

> The last story of my "Being Us" series will take place away from Camp Half-Blood, and as I've been plotting it out, I've realized I'll miss CHB, the other PJO characters and my wacky Apollo cabin. It occurred to me there are still stories there, so I'm going to collect them here.
> 
> This first one contains some of my headcanon about the ways ToA could go. I'm pretty sure the Triumvirate will continue to target Apollo's kids. The nasty part of my brain wonders if Will is going to get hurt, and this kind of follows on to what could happen in the aftermath of that.

The Whole Apollo Situation finally came to a head, went critical, and got resolved in the standard world-threatening battle about a year after it got started. Shortly afterward, Nico and Will broke up.

Nico couldn’t even say precisely why it happened. Things were just getting back to normal at Camp Half-Blood, and he’d found himself getting increasingly annoyed at Will for no good reason. One day, he snapped, and the two of them had the worst fight of their teenage lives. Afterward, Nico had disappeared for almost a week to the Underworld, not wanting to deal with the mortal world.

When he came back, Nico had wanted everything to go back to normal, but Will wouldn’t let him. The son of Apollo was as angry as Nico had ever seen him, demanding to know why Nico had run off and stayed away for so long without even letting anyone know where he was. It had led to a fight that made the previous one look like a bit of bickering. And then it happened . . .

_“Just leave it alone, Solace! Leave me alone!”_

_“No! You can’t be in a relationship and just run off, Nico. That’s not fair! I had no idea where you were or even if you were okay!”_

_“What would you know? You stay at this camp all year. I lived on my own for years, and you know what? I don’t need you! I’d be better off without you nagging me all the time!”_

Looking back, Nico knew the things he said to Will were unforgiveable. What he didn’t know was why he said them. It seemed like he was standing outside his body, watching this horrible stranger attack Will with terrible, lying words.

And Will, tears in his eyes, had said, “If that’s really how you feel, if that’s how you’re going to talk to me, I can’t be with you anymore.”

The words seared themselves into Nico’s mind. Unable to bear them, he left again, this time letting Chiron know he’d be at Camp Jupiter. He crashed there with the Fifth Cohort and tried to ignore the worry he saw in Hazel's eyes.

He lasted for two miserable, stubborn weeks before he finally broke, tracked down Piper, told her the whole, sorry tale and begged her to help him. She did so by telling him precisely what he didn’t want to hear:

“If you want Will back, you’re going to have to be honest with him – and with yourself.”

But he knew she was right, and nothing could possibly be worse than being without Will. So he sucked up his pride, bade Hazel goodbye, and left for Camp Half-Blood.

***

Will Solace fired another arrow, hitting the target dead-center. Funny how his archery improved when he was in a bad mood.

His archery had been very good indeed for the past few weeks.

Practicing archery, looking after his siblings and working in the infirmary dominated his life. Anything to get his mind off of Nico and their breakup. Kayla, Austin and Augie, who’d joined their cabin in December, had tried to get him to have fun with them, and he tried in return, for their sake. But every quiet moment brought back memories, either good ones of being in love, or bad ones of his and Nico’s final fight.

It still hurt to think about. Will had no idea what had set Nico off like that. He’d gone over his own actions and words and found plenty of fault with them, but Will couldn’t understand what had started it all. And now he’d lost his first love, and it was painful in a way he had never experienced.

Shaking his head, he fired his last arrow and was about to go fetch them from the target when a voice stopped him.

“Will.”

Will turned around. Nico was standing there, looking nervous and somehow smaller than usual. He looked tired and fragile, like he hadn’t slept or eaten recently.

“Will, I . . .” Nico swallowed visibly. “I miss you.” He blinked hard, eyes shining with tears. “Gods, Will, I miss you so much.”

For a moment, Will wanted nothing more than to go to Nico, wrap his arms around him and tell him everything was okay.

But it wasn’t.

“I miss you, too,” Will admitted. It was an understatement. Will felt like he’d been walking around with a hole in his chest. “But nothing’s changed. What you said to me . . .”

Nico flinched. “I know. It was inexcusable.” He gave a dry, bitter laugh. “No, it was a lie. When I said I didn’t need you and I was better off alone? It’s easily the worst lie I’ve ever told.”

Something eased a little inside Will at that. “Why, Nico?”

In an example of impeccable timing, the Ares cabin noisily invaded the archery range. Will and Nico shared an annoyed look, and Nico offered his hand. Without hesitation, Will took it, and Nico pulled him into a shadow.

They emerged in their favorite quiet place near the lake. Will’s heart ached a little at the familiarity. He set down his bow and took his quiver off, and he sat on the fallen log where they’d had so many heart-to-hearts (and make-outs).

And he waited. He wasn’t going to beg for anything, much as he wanted to. The next move was Nico’s.

It was clear Nico was working through something. He paced, hugging himself, different emotions washing over his face. He seemed tormented somehow, and it took all of Will’s strength to not try to comfort him.

Finally, Nico turned to face Will, and words came bursting out of him. “You nearly died, Will. If Apollo hadn’t been able to save you . . . you nearly died, and I _felt_ it!”

The battle came flooding back to Will. The Triumvirate had purposely targeted Apollo’s children. It had been all Will could do to protect his Greek brothers and sisters; a number of his Roman ones had died.

Will nearly joined them. His siblings had told him about how he’d been injured later, but he had no memory of it. He did remember cold, and darkness, and the pull of the grave. And he remembered Apollo’s singing guiding him back to the light and warmth.

According to his siblings, again, after Will had been struck down, Nico had “gone nuclear.” In a way, Will was happy he didn’t know exactly what that entailed, only that it had left Nico with dangerous levels of darkness in his system.

It was that darkness that had sparked their initial argument. When Will had, as usual, started nagging Nico about taking it easy, Nico had exploded and then disappeared.

And now, Will was beginning to understand.

Nico didn’t fear death. Oh, he wanted to live, now that he felt he had a purpose and connections of love and friendship in the world above, but ultimately, death held no terror for him. He’d told Will that it was comforting for him to know that whenever he did die, he’d end up in his father’s palace.

But to lose those he loved to death, to be separated from them? That was Nico’s fear. Worse, Nico had felt Will slipping away from him. It had sent him into the type of fury that Will knew the son of Hades never wanted to experience again. Nico had terrifying amounts of power, and he himself was the one who was most afraid of what he was capable of doing in moments of anger.

It was the same fear Will had sensed in the other Big Three kids. Over the past year, Will had witnessed what each was capable of when those they loved were threatened. Once, when Annabeth’s life was threatened, Percy had gone from “easygoing, pleasantly goofy bro” to someone Will didn’t even recognize and hoped to the gods he’d never see again. Even Hazel turned nightmarish when Frank was hurt.

Nico sagged, as if his confession had sapped all his strength. “You nearly died, and it was . . . it was the worst thing I’ve ever felt, because I understood what was happening, and I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t stop losing you.” His voice broke on the last word, and he sat down heavily on the ground.

Will moved off the log and squatted down by Nico. “So you pushed me away.”

“I guess . . . I guess I did.” Nico swiped at a tear that had escaped his eye. They were colorless again, after regaining quite a bit of color as Nico had healed and moved more and more into the world of the living. Something squeezed inside Will’s chest at that. “If it was that bad already, what will it be like when . . .”

Nico trailed off, but Will understood what he was trying to say.

_. . . when we become lovers?_

_. . . when we’ve spent years together?_

_. . . when we’ve created a life together?_

Will’s heart hurt. He moved to sit beside Nico, not quite touching him. For a long moment, neither spoke.

“Nico . . . I’ve been terrified of losing you ever since Half-Blood Hill,” Will confessed quietly. “Every time you’ve gone to do something dangerous, something only a ridiculously powerful demigod can do, I’ve been scared you won’t come back. That’s why I nag you about your health so much, you know.”

Nico’s mouth quirked. “I actually figured that out a while ago. I guess I just never quite knew how it felt. And I-I don’t know if I can bear it.” Another tear slid down his face.

“There are no guarantees for us demigods,” said Will. “You know that better than any of us. The question is . . . am I worth it? Are _we_ worth it?”

Will could feel Nico’s fear leaking out of him. Some grass died around him.

Nico took a deep breath. “You’re worth it, Will. I’m so, so sorry for the way I spoke to you. I-I know you may not be able to forgive me, but I’m sorry.”

Will reached out and slid his fingers into Nico’s. “You’re worth it, too, Nico. And I’m not innocent in all this. When you came back the first time, I kind of went in with a full head of steam. That’s the sort of thing that’s guaranteed to make you bolt or lash out. I should’ve waited until I could speak to you calmly. We might’ve been able to talk this through like rational human beings.”

“I’m pretty sure being teenagers means we are, by definition, irrational.” The dry statement was undercut by the little wobble in Nico’s voice. He tentatively laid his head on Will’s shoulder and sighed. “So, where are we now?”

Will finally did what he’d been wanting to do and drew Nico close. “I’ve missed you, and I want you back. But I think we need some new ground rules.”

“I will never speak to you that way again,” Nico said without any prompting. “I swear it on the River Styx.”

“Well, you didn’t have to go that far.” Will chuckled, and he felt Nico chuckle, too. “I was thinking more like, you don’t disappear when we fight again, because I have a feeling we will.”

Nico shifted slightly. “I’m sorry about that, too. I just didn’t know how to handle . . . you know, all those feelings.”

“Hey, it’s okay to need time to process. Just tell me. We can take a break and then talk things over when we’re both calmer. That’s a good rule for me, too. Next time I feel like popping off at you, I’ll go for a run or something.”

“So, if you start going for five runs a day, I’ll know I’m being annoying.”

“Exactly.”

They both laughed, shaky with relief at knowing they had made it through this. Will felt Nico relax against him, emotions leveling out.

“There is one other thing,” Will said after a minute.

“Hm?”

“Traditionally, when a couple has broken up and gotten back together, they have a nice, long make-out.”

Nico looked up at Will, mischief in his eyes. “Is that so?”

Will gave Nico his best innocent look. “I’m ready to swear it on the Styx.”

“Well, far be it from me to buck tradition.” Nico turned, wrapping his arms around Will and kissing him.

Will kissed him back, happy beyond words to have his boyfriend back in his arms.


	2. The Nightmare Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico has a nightmare/flashback, and Jason doesn't know what to do. Fortunately, Piper does: call in a doctor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This follows shortly after my related story "The Spindle of Necessity," which you don't have to read in order to understand this. Suffice to say, Nico has a fairly horrifying encounter with a creature called a mistfiend. He prevails, but it leaves him with some lingering after-effects. Luckily, he has a Will to take care of him.

Jason was in over his head.

Two days ago, Nico had come back from a quest. Upon his return, he’d quietly asked Jason if he’d mind sleeping in the Hades cabin for a little while. Nico had confided that during the quest, he’d absorbed a malevolent creature composed of pure anti-life. As a child of Hades, he’d been able to survive the experience and even use the creature to complete the mission before banishing it.

It had been far from a pleasant experience, though, Jason gathered. Nico didn’t want to talk about it, but that much was easy to see.

Just how unpleasant it had been was no longer a matter for Jason’s imagination. He’d awakened from a terrible nightmare of accidentally killing Piper to a cabin that was painfully cold and filled with writhing shadows and pure, unadulterated dread.

Nico cowered against Hades’s altar, eyes black, skin bone white, face locked in an expression of sheer horror. Jason had called his name without getting any acknowledgement in return. He’d tried to approach Nico, but . . .

The dread rolling off of the son of Hades was an almost physical barrier. Jason felt like he might be sick, or his heart might stop, every time he took a step toward Nico. He needed help, he needed –

Piper. Jason’s girlfriend had once used charmspeak to bring Nico out of a nightmare/flashback. Nico liked and trusted Piper; Jason was sure she could reach him again.

“Hold on, Nico,” he told his friend. “I’ll be back in a minute with help.” He slipped his feet into a pair of sneakers and left the cabin.

The light and warmth of the late-summer morning outside felt wonderful, but Jason couldn’t stop to savor them. The camp was just beginning to stir as he ran across the quad to the Aphrodite cabin. He knocked on the door, calling for Piper.

She opened the door wearing leggings, a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and a hoodie, her usual running outfit. “What is it?” she asked.

“Nico. It’s bad. He’s not responding to me at all, and . . .”

Piper nodded. “Got it.”

Jason turned and ran back to the Hades cabin. It was only when he got there that he realized Piper hadn’t followed him. Instead, she’d gone to the Apollo cabin and was in urgent conversation with someone inside. A moment later, Will Solace, hair wet and still pulling on a shirt, burst out and sprinted to the Hades cabin door, which he wrenched open.

Shadows and freezing air spilled out. And Will, without any hesitation, charged into the darkness and cold and horror emanating from his boyfriend. What had defeated Jason’s will didn’t seem to give Will any pause at all.

“Nico, Nico, caro, it’s all right, I’m here . . .” Will fell to his knees, pulling Nico into his arms, almost wrapping himself around the smaller teen, and he began to sing softly.

For a moment, Nico didn’t respond. But then, as golden light began to emanate from Will’s skin, pushing back the shadows, Nico grabbed hold of Will, pulling himself deeper into his boyfriend’s arms. Slowly, the aura of dread receded and the shadows stilled as Will held Nico, singing and murmuring gentle endearments.

Piper brushed past a stunned Jason into the cabin. She pulled a blanket from Nico’s bed and tucked it around Nico and Will. She and Will exchanged a few soft words, and then she gently kissed Nico’s forehead and withdrew from the cabin, closing the door behind her.

Jason, floored by what he’d witnessed, pointed at the closed door. “What was that?”

Piper smiled teasingly. “That, my sweet doofus . . . was love.” She leaned up and gave him a quick kiss. “They’ll be fine, trust me. I’m going to go for my morning run now. See you at breakfast.”

Jason stood outside the cabin for a few minutes, digesting the morning’s events. Eventually, he decided he couldn’t do anything else for the moment and went back to the Zeus cabin for a shower and a change of clothes.

When he came out, he wasn’t sure what to do. He was reluctant to go to breakfast without checking in on Nico, but he didn’t want to invade Nico and Will’s privacy, either. Come to think of it, he didn’t even know if they were still in there.

Just as he was about to go up to the mess hall to see if either Nico or Will had put in an appearance, the Hades cabin door opened and Will exited. He immediately spotted Jason and approached him.

“How is he?” Jason asked.

“He’s okay. He’s taking a shower now.” Will shrugged. “He just needed . . .”

“Solace?”

Will gave a fake laugh. “Good one, Grace, I’ve never heard that one before.”

Jason grinned. “I like you, Solace.” He thumped Will on the shoulder. Will winced. Puzzled, Jason lifted the edge of his t-shirt sleeve. Underneath, there were purpling bruises and fingernail gouges. “What’s this?”

“Huh.” Will checked the marks himself. “He was holding onto me pretty hard. I’ll have to get some salve on those; he’ll feel guilty if he thinks he hurt me.”

Jason had to ask the question that was uppermost in his mind. “Will, how did you do that? I couldn’t get anywhere near him, and I know for a fact that you Apollos hate the dark and the cold even more than I do.”

Will looked at him as if the question made no sense. “He needed me. It wasn’t pleasant, but what he was going through was much worse. What’s some discomfort to that?”

“Some discomfort” was a vast understatement of what Will had faced in that cabin. Jason knew he would do anything for Piper, but he’d never faced a test like that. Nothing that couldn’t be destroyed with a bolt of lightning, at least.

“Dude, give me a break,” said Jason. “You’re making me look inadequate as a boyfriend.”

Will laughed his sunny laugh. “Seriously? You need to talk to your bro Percy ‘I went to Tartarus for my girlfriend’ Jackson about that. He makes all of us boyfriends look bad.”

“It’s the truth, he does suck,” Jason agreed. “Will, I’m really glad Nico has you. I can see how much he’s healed with your help.”

That brought a bashful smile and shrug from Will. “I’m the lucky one. Besides, you’ve helped him heal, too. You were the first person to show him that people would accept him. That meant a lot to him, more than you know. I’ve definitely benefited from that, so . . . thank you.”

Jason threw up his hands. “See, now I have to hug you. There’s no choice.”

Will laughed as Jason pulled him into a hearty bro hug and returned it with interest. Like all Apollo kids, Will was warm, both physically and emotionally, and very demonstrative. Not unlike Piper, really.

“We need to have a double date,” Jason said as he pulled back. “You, Nico, me, Piper. It’ll be fun.”

“Yeah, I’d be up for that.” Will glanced back at the Hades cabin. “Listen, I’m going to run to the infirmary for some salve. I don’t suppose I have to ask you to wait for Nico and make sure he gets to breakfast?”

“Will do, bro. See you at the mess hall.” Jason watched Will go. 

Piper had been right, as usual. Nico was in good hands.


	3. The Story of Tory (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which twelve-year-old Tory Sumner has a spectacularly bad day that ends unexpectedly well, Nico is a badass, and Will is the best big brother ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm breaking one of my own rules for this. I love to write colorful original characters, but I almost never write from their perspectives, let alone do an entire story for one. It's always felt a little self-indulgent to do so. However, I got a bug in my brain to write about my headcanon CHB and its inhabitants, especially Nico/Will, from an outside pov, and Tory here happened. I think he's an endearing little bug. Apologies if you don't like OC pov fics, I totally understand if you want to skip this one, but I promise that canon characters, particularly Will and Nico, are going to play a huge role. Hope you enjoy!

There were many reasons, Tory Sumner mused, that his life sucked. Just being a biracial kid in Podunkville, Alabama was enough to make him stand out in a way not everyone approved of. Being the son of a single mom who happened to be the town weirdo? That didn’t help, either. The fact that she claimed to be a psychic and ran a new-agey store put the two of them even more to the left of the good, church-going folks of the town. (Not that it stopped some of those good, church-going folks from stopping in for readings on the down-low, of course.)

There were more reasons he was frankly a bit surprised he’d reached the august age of twelve. In no particular order, they were:

1\. He had always been short and skinny for his age;  
2\. He had only one real friend, Burl, who was the New Kid and kind of strange himself;  
3\. He’d shared a name with a girl in fifth grade, a circumstance that neither of them had appreciated, given that kids that age would tease their classmates mercilessly for anything at all;  
4\. His mom had gotten him into ballet when he was a toddler, and he actually liked it;  
5\. He’d been exposed as a ballet-loving, ballet-dancing ballet boy, earning himself the nickname of “Ballerina Tory” (which, to be fair, wasn’t quite as bad as those inflicted on “Boner” Thompson or “Dookie” Perdue);  
6\. He could not seem to stop himself from smart-mouthing Neanderthals twice his age;   
7\. He’d recently come to the realization that he was gay, which wouldn’t help him at all in this town.; and  
8\. He’d been called “Troy Summers” by every new teacher he’d ever had, substitutes included.

He did have two things on his side, however. First, he could nail any bug or spider with a rubber band from across the classroom. It gave him just enough entertainment value that a few of the popular kids were willing to put up with him.

Second, and more importantly, he was fast. That skill was coming in handy at the moment as he zipped through the bad part of town (which was, face it, most of the town), Burl right on his heels, trying to get away from Dylan and his posse of assholes. He’d been hoping he could avoid them, now that school was out for the year, but no such luck. Not in this town.

Dylan and company were relative newcomers to the town. Where exactly they came from, Tory neither knew nor cared. He assumed they were high schoolers. It didn’t really matter where they came from or what age they were, though; what mattered was that Dylan had singled out Tory early on and hadn’t let up. Tory assumed they’d latched onto whatever every other bully saw in him: an easy target. Tory liked to think he wasn’t so easy, and had thus far managed to evade them whenever they came around.

No such luck today. He’d run into them as he was heading back to his mom’s shop after eating lunch with Burl, and the bullies had immediately started in on the two of them. It was entirely possible that his response speculating that Dylan had been on his way to fornicate with Old Man Parsons’s goats hadn’t been entirely smart, but it was a bit late to have regrets now.

So he ran. And he kind of hated that he was running, because he’d had a dream about running from Dylan and his cronies last night, and whenever his dreams started coming true, bad things happened. The dream had involved Dylan and the high school and a storm, which, judging by the gathering clouds and thick air, was on its way.

“Might be people at Ralston,” Burl panted, referring to Ralston Elementary School, which often hosted peewee sports during the summer.

Tory nodded shortly, and the two of them dodged around an abandoned building and adjusted course.

And then they (very nearly literally) ran into Royce, the worst bully of all. He was a hulking, slab-faced fourteen-year-old who’d made Tory’s life just that much worse for every year they attended the same school. Sixth grade had been a welcome break from his presence, and then middle school had happened.

“Aah!” was Tory’s only comment on the subject.

“Oh, hi, Ballerina Tory,” Royce gloated. “Where are you going in such a hurry? And with your sweetheart.” Royce sneered in Burl’s general direction.

“This is convenient,” Burl muttered to himself, much to Tory’s confusion. He liked Burl, but the guy really was weird.

Dylan’s pack of idiots came roaring around the corner, and Tory mentally said some very bad words. He didn’t recall Dylan and Royce teaming up before now, but if there was one thing they could agree on, it was that Tory needed a beatdown.

“Hey, Dylan,” said Royce. “You want me to hold him still for you?”

Dylan sniggered unpleasantly. “Looks like we’ve got a two-for-one deal, boys.”

Tory didn’t know what that meant. Judging by the look on Royce’s porcine face, he didn’t get it, either.

“Huh?” Royce said, quite eloquently.

“Yeah, this is . . . not convenient,” said Burl. He looked up at the sky. “Where are they?”

“Where are who?” Tory hissed. “Dude, we have problems.”

Burl nodded absently, still scanning the sky. “You’re right about that.”

Before Tory could begin to make sense of what his friend was saying, Royce cussed, loudly. Tory reflexively looked at him. The huge bully, however, wasn’t looking at him. His face was fixed in an expression of terror and shock, and his gaze was firmly on . . .

Tory followed his gaze to Dylan’s gang. “Holy shit!” he cussed.

Dylan’s eyes were glowing. Lightning crackled around him, and air began to stir, whipping up dust devils until he literally became a whirlwind. The same thing was happening to two of his friends. The others were somehow even weirder. They had saw-edged horns growing from their foreheads. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

“ _Aeternae_ and _anemoi thuellai_. Perfect. This is bad,” said Burl. He grabbed Tory’s arm. “Run!”

Tory didn’t have any problem with following that order. He didn’t even pay attention to where Burl was leading him. He did notice, however, when Royce caught up with and then passed them. For a big guy, he could move fast.

“Run, run, run, little half-bloods,” came a mocking voice from behind and above. Tory smelled ozone. “Let’s have some sport!”

They broke through some woods, and suddenly, they were in an open field that Tory recognized all too well. It was the sports field behind the high school, and it was just where he didn’t want to be. It had featured prominently in his dream the previous night.

Before he could voice any protest, wind slammed into him, lifting him off his feet and throwing him. He landed hard, his right arm tucked underneath him, and he felt something snap. Oddly, it didn’t hurt, but the world fuzzed a bit at the edges. Tory managed to pull himself off the ground just in time to see one of the freaky horned things charging at him, head lowered, with the saw-toothed horn aimed straight at him.

Burl came flying out of nowhere and took it down with some kind of ninja kick. Tory numbly reflected that he hadn’t known Burl could do that. Nor, for that matter, had he known that his friend had goat feet.

The whole world seemed to have turned into a nightmare. Tory saw three storms, for lack of a better word, whipping across the field. They herded Royce toward Tory and Burl, who was standing guard over him, until the three of them were in a tight knot surrounded by what could best be described as monsters.

“What do you want?” Royce whimpered, his voice an octave above usual.

Dylan’s eerie face in the whirlwind grinned. “Dead demigods. The satyr is a bonus.”

Demigods? Satyr?

And then a chariot dropped out of the sky.

Drawn by flying horses, it skimmed over the field, and a dark figure leaped down from it, a black sword in his hand. He landed just in front of Burl. 

“Nico!” Burl bleated. It was definitely a bleat.

The apparent Nico didn’t acknowledge him. His presence felt strange, cold, and it had a definite effect on the whirlwinds.

“Stygian iron!” Dylan hissed, and all three whirlwinds lifted off and flew away.

The horned creatures didn’t run. They attacked, all at once. It didn’t do them much good; Nico turned into a whirling, dancing dealer of death. Two of the creatures exploded into dust before the other three could even engage the swordsman.

Burl, seemingly satisfied at the way the battle was going, dropped down by Tory. “Can you get up?” His ever-present trucker hat had fallen off, and Tory realized he had goat horns as well as goat feet.

“What are you?” Tory asked. It suddenly seemed very important to know this.

“I’m your friend.” Burl’s brown eyes were earnest, honest. “I’m here to protect you. You can believe that, Tory. Come on.”

As Burl helped him up, the chariot came rumbling around. Burl hustled Tory aboard, where a blond guy was holding the reins.

“Is he hurt?” the blond guy asked without preamble.

“He’s holding his arm funny,” said Burl.

“Reins.” The blond guy handed them off to Burl and started inspecting Tory, touching a sore spot on his forehead. “I’m Will. What’s your name?” he asked as he examined Tory’s injured arm.

Tory answered automatically. “I’m Tory. What’s going on?”

“We’ll explain. Burl, I’m going to get the big kid. Looks like Nico’s almost finished with the _aeternae_ , so tell the pegasi we’re leaving, would you?” Will leaped down from the chariot and ran toward Royce.

Tory suddenly felt dizzy and nauseated. He dropped his head for a moment as his ears buzzed. Vaguely, he heard Burl making nickering noises at the winged horses, and he wondered how soon it would be until he woke up.

Royce’s voice brought him out of it. “I’m not going anywhere with you freaks! What-”

“Do as he says,” snapped a new voice, dark and a bit gravelly. Tory looked up to see the guy in black, Nico, striding back to the chariot, sword in hand and looking dangerous. Considering that all the horned creatures were gone, Tory didn’t think looks were deceiving.

Royce apparently thought so, too, because he shut up and allowed Will to usher him to the chariot. Nico was the last to board, and Will took the reins from Burl.

“Tory has a broken arm,” Will told him. “Help him hold on, okay?”

“No problem.” Burl moved to Tory’s right side, blocking him in against the side of the chariot.

Nico scanned the sky. “The _venti_ could still be around. Better get us out of here.”

Royce shook off whatever state of shock he’d been in. “Hey, wait, you can’t just – hey, who are you guys, anyway?”

Nico turned a freezing glare on Royce, who cowered, despite being half a head taller and probably a hundred pounds heavier. “Listen closely if you want to survive: Shut up, hold on, do as the driver says, and SHUT UP!”

Will shook the reins. “Cloudy, Winthrop, go!”

The winged horses launched into a gallop. Their huge wings beat the air, and in moments, they were airborne.

Tory really wanted to know what was going on, but he certainly didn’t want to anger Nico, so he kept his questions to himself. Also, he was afraid that if he opened his mouth, he’d throw up. Instead, he settled for watching the two strangers.

They were both good-looking guys, though in totally different ways. Will was tall and tanned, with wavy blond hair and blue eyes. He was wearing an orange shirt and cargo shorts. Nico was quite a bit shorter than Will, though still considerably taller than Tory. His tied-back hair was thick and black. In contrast to Will’s conventionally handsome face, Nico’s was a bit severe. He had a strong, straight nose and high cheekbones, but his mouth was contrastingly soft. He was making it work, even if his default expression appeared to be a scowl. Given that he was taut with tension and had just destroyed five monsters, perhaps it was just the situation.

“Have you got the supercharger?” Nico asked Will.

“Yeah, but I can’t use it over a populated area like this. We’ll have to wait until – oh, crap! _Venti_ at two o’clock!”

The weird whirlwinds descended from the storm clouds overhead and started coming for them. Nico muttered something that sounded like bad language and craned his neck, looking down at the town. “Will, aim for the shadow of that building.”

Tory realized that he was looking at the tallest building in town. At ten stories, people around here called it “the skyscraper.” It was a tired joke, but in a small town, you got amusement where you could.

Will glanced at Nico, looking concerned. “You’re sure?”

Nico nodded tersely. “It’s our only choice.”

“Oh, I’m gonna hate this,” moaned Burl. He pressed up against Tory, holding him firmly against the side of the chariot.

“What’s going on?” Tory dared to ask.

“Guys, hold on really tight and close your eyes,” Will ordered.

And then the chariot took a dive straight at the skyscraper. Royce screamed like a girl. So did Tory. He closed his eyes and braced for impact – 

There was no impact. Instead, there was a strange, cold, squeezing sensation. Everything went very quiet for a few seconds.

And then there was light and noise again, and the chariot hit the ground rolling. It jarred Tory’s arm, and the pain and disorientation could have only one outcome. Tory lost his lunch over the side of the chariot.

It turned out he had something in common with Royce after all; the big bully was decorating the grass on the other side of the chariot.

It looked like they’d been transported straight to the side of a hill. The horses and chariot were barreling down the side, the horses using their wings to stay balanced. Will slowly reined them in, steering them off to the left. By the time everything came to a complete stop, they were in front of a large house. Some people were running to meet them.

Will was suddenly there again, turning Tory’s face to look at him. “Burl, help me get him to the infirmary. Poor guy.” He looked over to where Nico was bracing himself upright against the side of the chariot. “Nico, you okay?”

“Yeah.” Nico stood upright and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Not the easiest thing I’ve ever done, but I’m okay.”

Will bit his lip, looking worried, though Tory couldn’t imagine why anyone needed to worry about Mr. Five-on-One-Is-My-Jam. “Make sure to-”

“- get some rest and fluids and spend some time in the sun. I know the drill.” Nico gave Will what Tory almost swore was an affectionate look. “The kid needs your mother-henning more than I do right now. Go on.”

Will chuckled a little. “Okay. Want to get the big guy oriented?” He indicated a white-faced Royce with a nod.

“Nope.” Nico sheathed his sword, jumped down from the chariot and walked off.

“I got this,” said one of the people who’d come to greet them.

That seemed to be good enough for Will. He and Burl guided Tory, whose legs felt like overcooked spaghetti, off the chariot and into the house. Tory honestly didn’t notice much of anything until Will sat him down on a bed in what looked like a medical clinic. Movable curtains sequestered the bed, which Tory was grateful for, since he felt like he might barf again. Or possibly faint. Burl had left at some point, and Tory wasn’t sure how to feel about that. On one hand, Burl was his friend. On the other hand, Burl was a weird goat hybrid.

“Nicky, would you help me out here?” Will called.

A girl about Tory’s age poked her head around one of the curtains. “What do you need?”

“Tory here has a cracked ulna. I need ambrosia, a splint and some painkillers.” Will pulled some gauze and a bottle of antiseptic out of a cupboard. “Round up some Gatorade and oyster crackers, too. I’m going to clean up his scrapes.”

It was only then that Tory realized he was bleeding. Quite a bit of skin had been taken off his broken arm and also his left palm. Judging by the throbbing sensation on his forehead, he thought he might have hit his head at some point, too, but he didn’t remember doing it.

Will pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and sat down facing Tory. “So,” he said as he applied the stinging antiseptic to Tory’s scraped arm, “I’d imagine you’ve got a lot of questions right now.”

“I . . .” Tory didn’t even know where to start.

From Will’s smile, he didn’t have to. As he cleaned Tory’s wounds, Will explained that one, Tory was a demigod; two, he wasn’t kidding; three, no, he really wasn’t kidding; four, he’d reached the age where monsters would start coming after him fast and furious; five, Burl was a satyr; six, he wasn’t kidding about that, either; and seven, they were at Camp Half-Blood, a safe haven for people like them

Nicki came trundling in with a cart as Tory absorbed this. “I’ve got everything. What now?”

“Give him a piece of the ambrosia, will you? I don’t think he’d appreciate it with a side of blood and antiseptic.” Will winked.

Nicky broke off a piece of something that vaguely resembled a lemon bar, noted that both of Tory’s hands were out of commission, and more or less shoved it in his mouth. “What’s it taste like to you?” she asked.

Something totally unexpected, as far as Tory was concerned. “Grilled cheese,” he said. “My mom and I are vegetarians. It’s hard to get good vegetarian food in our town, but Grandma Del – she’s not my real grandma, but everyone calls her that at the diner she runs – makes the best grilled cheese sandwiches. She doesn’t treat me like a freak, which . . .” He trailed off, feeling like he’d start to cry if he went on.

Somehow, from their expressions, Tory got the impression that Nicky and Will understood perfectly. “It’s ambrosia,” said Will. “It tastes different for each of us, but it’s always a favorite food, something comforting.” He finished cleaning Tory’s scrapes and applied some kind of soothing cream. “It helps us heal. This arm will be good as new in a day.” He wrapped Tory’s left palm in gauze. “Nicky, let him have the Gatorade and crackers now. I’m guessing you’re thirsty?”

Tory realized he was, indeed, extremely thirsty. He drained half the bottle of Gatorade without stopping. His stomach was still a bit upset, so he ate a few of the crackers to settle it while Will cleaned the scrape on his forehead.

“Okay, so, where were we?” Will went on. “Demigods. I take it your mortal parent is your mother. Unfortunately, that doesn’t narrow down who your godly parent is. My sister Kayla has two fathers, and half the Hecate cabin has two mothers.”

“Who’s your . . . um, god?” Tory asked.

“My father’s Apollo. He’s Nicky’s father, too.” Will smirked. “Apollo really gets around. Nicky, give Tory the painkillers now; that arm of his hurts.”

Without the distraction of Will cleaning his scrapes, the growing ache from Tory’s broken arm was definitely becoming an issue. He took the pills Nicky gave him and looked curiously at Will. “How did you know that?”

“I’m a healer. I can sense injuries and pain, and I’m good at treating them. I can also invoke Apollo’s healing power when I need to.” Will ran warm fingers over Tory’s arm. “Fortunately, your ulna’s just cracked. I won’t need to set it.” He took the splint from Nicky and gently began to strap it onto Tory’s arm.

“So, who’s my, um, father?” Tory asked. His mother had always been mum on the subject, and Tory hadn’t wanted to press her.

“Dunno. We’ll probably all find out at the same time.” Will adjusted the splint, being careful not to move Tory’s arm any more than necessary. “I’ll bet we can narrow it down, though. Athena’s kids usually have gray eyes, and yours are brown, so I think we can rule her out. It’s also extremely unlikely you’re a child of the Big Three – that’s what we call Zeus, Poseidon and Hades – because they made a deal not to have more children. Which isn’t to say they don’t have kids in this world. Zeus has a daughter, his Roman counterpart Jupiter has a son, Poseidon has a son, and Hades also has a son, while his Roman counterpart Pluto has a daughter. You met the son of Hades already, by the way.”

The mythology unit he’d done in English that year came to the rescue. Hades, god of the dead. “You mean the scary guy with the sword?”

Will laughed. “Trust me, Nico’s only scary when he wants to be. When you get to know him, he’s a complete marshmallow.”

“He can be really sweet,” Nicky put in.

Tory was going to have to take a wait-and-see on that idea. “So, aside from the, uh, big guys, who else is there?”

“Oh, lots. What kinds of things do you like to do? Make things, garden, sing . . ?” Will let the question hang.

“Uh, I like to, uh . . . I dance,” Tory admitted, very quietly.

“We have lots of dancers in our cabin,” Nicky said.

Will nodded. “Yep. We have about half of the dancers at camp in the Apollo cabin. Most of the rest are in the Aphrodite cabin. The major exception is an amazing ballet dancer in the Ares cabin. She can kill monsters _en pointe_. Any other interests? Quirks? Foibles?”

Tory’s brain felt like it was slowing down as the painkillers kicked in. “Um, I can nail mosquitos with rubber bands, and I can’t keep myself from sass-mouthing bullies like Royce. Also, I know it sounds weird, but I-I sometimes have dreams that come true.”

“The dream thing is very common for demigods,” said Will.

“Good aim is an Apollo thing. My mom’s a champion target shooter,” said Nicky.

“And sass-mouthing is a teenager thing. The Hermes cabin is the worst about it, but I can’t say any cabin is innocent.”

Nicky smirked. “Except maybe Ares. They’re more likely to punch you in the face.”

People hitting people reminded Tory of Royce, which reminded him of school, which reminded him of home, and that reminded him of his mom. 

“My mom, she doesn’t know where I am!” Tory tried to stand, panicky, but his legs wouldn’t obey, and he fumbled at his pockets. He pulled out his phone. “I’ve got to call her, I-”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down.” Will took Tory’s shoulders. “You can’t call her; you won’t get a signal here. But don’t worry. We deal with families of demigods a lot here. Probably the reason Burl left was to report to the camp director, and he’ll contact your mom. If she’s not in on the whole demigod thing, they’ll have a cover story ready. It’ll be okay.”

Tory looked at his phone and its zero bars. “But I want to talk to my mom.” His vision blurred, and much to his dismay, he started to cry.

The mattress dipped beside him, and Will’s warm arms wrapped around him. “It’s okay, Tory, everything’s going to be okay.” Will rocked him, murmuring assurances, and Tory’s tears slowed and stopped in a few minutes.

“S-sorry,” he sniffled.

Will pulled back, letting him go, but keeping one arm around his shoulders. Tory was glad to see that Nicky had disappeared. “Don’t be sorry. I cried when I first came here, too. Lots of kids do. Some of them throw up, or faint, or get hysterical. Or all of the above.” He handed Tory a tissue.

“Yeah, well, I barfed, too,” Tory said, laughing just a little.

“Eh, you had a good excuse.” Will squeezed his shoulders. “You’re exhausted. Get some rest. You’ll feel a lot better. We can set up a call with your mom, too. Don’t worry about anything; you’re safe here.”

Tory blew his nose and looked up at Will. “Thanks.”

Will helped him take off his shoes, and as Tory lay down to rest, he quietly hoped that he’d find out Will was his brother.

***

Tory woke a few hours later, feeling much better. The scrapes on his arm and hand were already well on their way to healing, and his arm was no longer swollen. He did, however, have one pressing issue.

After flagging down a passing medic, who put his arm in a sling and gave him the all-clear to get out of bed, he made use of the bathroom. When he came out, Burl was waiting, wearing a pair of shorts that showed off his goaty legs, and an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. He was holding a tray with food.

“Tory! It’s good to see you up and about. Want some dinner?” Burl lifted the tray as if offering.

In fact, Tory was extremely hungry, although his belly was still sore from throwing up earlier. And he was curious about Burl. They sat down on Tory’s bed to eat. Dinner turned out to be black-bean burgers, fries and Coke. Tory’s right arm was still fairly useless, and eating with his left hand was awkward, but he was hungry enough to make do.

“So, you’re a satyr,” Tory eventually noted.

Burl nodded, polishing off his burger. “Yeah. Sorry I didn’t say anything to you before, but . . .”

Tory shook his head. “It’s not exactly something you lead with. ‘Oh, hey, by the way, I’m a mythological creature!’”

Burl laughed his usual goaty laugh, and Tory finally understood where it came from. “It’s not something most people are comfortable with, no. I was sent to keep an eye on you and Royce and let the camp know when it was time for you guys to learn about your heritage.”

The (excellent) burger seemed to turn into stone in Tory’s stomach. “So . . . that was why you made friends with me?”

“I’m still your friend, Tory,” Burl said gently. “Yeah, I had a duty, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like you. I’m gonna be around camp. Lots of demigods and satyrs are friends.”

That made Tory feel better. “Well, that’s good. I mean, I don’t really have any other friends.”

“You’ll make some here, don’t worry. By the way, I talked to your mom.”

Tory sat up. “Is she okay? Is she worried about me?”

“She’s an . . . interesting lady,” said Burl. “She said she knew your dad wasn’t exactly human, and she was expecting this because of a dream she had. I explained to her that you’re a demigod, and she said it totally made sense, and she’ll send your stuff to camp.”

That figured. Come to think of it, Tory couldn’t think of a single time in his life his mom had been surprised by anything. “Can I talk to her?”

Burl nodded. “Sure, we can set up a call, maybe tomorrow. Hey, do you feel well enough to go down to the bonfire tonight? I can introduce you around.”

That idea gave Tory a bit of pause. He wasn’t shy – in fact, he had always been quite outgoing – but experience had taught him to be cautious. The day had been so strange already, and he had no idea what to expect from a bunch of demigods. Especially if there were more like Royce.

But he knew he couldn’t put it off forever. A bonfire sounded like fun, and perhaps the other demigods would be more like Will than Royce. “Okay,” he said after a minute.

He and Burl left the infirmary and walked down toward the campground, with Burl pointing out interesting things, like the wheel ruts they’d made when they came in. They passed a volleyball court and a small pavilion that Burl said was used for arts and crafts. As they approached the canoe lake, someone joined them.

“Hey, Burl. Hey, Tory,” said a voice out of nowhere. Tory jumped. Nico the Kicker of Asses seemed to have materialized out of the growing twilight. He was wearing dark clothing, including the aviator jacket he’d been wearing when Tory first met him (for a given value of “met”), not to mention his sword. “Are you two headed to the bonfire?”

“Yep,” bleated Burl.

“Cool.” Nico looked Tory up and down. “You’re looking better.”

“Y-yeah,” said Tory, completely intimidated by this guy who was, to all appearances, trying to be friendly. “Uh, Will fixed me up.”

That got him a half-smile. “He’s good at that.”

“Nico di Angelo!” The shout came from a girl striding rapidly toward them, looking like she had a bone to pick.

“Oh, gods,” Nico muttered. “Yes, Carli?”

The girl, a petite blonde, marched straight up to him and poked a finger at Nico’s chest. “You shadow-traveled pegasi! What were you thinking?”

Nico gave her a deadpan look. “I was thinking I’d get us all out of there alive. It seemed like the thing to do.”

Carli didn’t appear mollified in the least. “Cloudy and Winthrop are both off their feed tonight. They normally eat like demons after an outing like that. Woodrow says they’re both nauseous, and that’s down to you, you-”

“Carli?” Nico interrupted.

“What?”

“Bye.” Nico stepped into her shadow and disappeared.

Carli threw up her hands. “Argh!”

She stormed off, and Tory turned to Burl. “How could she talk to him like that when he’s . . .” Tory struggled for words. “He’s scary!”

“Carli is very passionate about animals. She wants to be a vet,” Burl explained. “Besides, she’s an Apollo child, and Nico’s pretty friendly with the Apollo cabin. After all-” He suddenly broke off whatever he was going to say and waved at a small group of teenagers headed their way. “Hey, Cecil! New camper here!”

Cecil appeared to be perhaps fifteen or sixteen and had the kind of face that made you check for your wallet. Still, he smiled in a friendly way and altered his course. The others with him, two boys and two girls, came along.

“Burl! What’s going on?” Cecil bumped fists with the satyr. “You finally broke free from the Deep South!”

Burl laughed. “Yep, and I sprang this guy as well. Tory, this is Cecil Markowitz, head counselor of the Hermes cabin. Hermes is the god of travelers, so if you’re not claimed by a god tonight, you’ll be staying in the Hermes cabin until you are.”

“Oh.” Tory saw a potential issue. “Does that mean Royce will be staying there as well?”

“The big, obnoxious guy? Nah,” said Cecil. “He got claimed by Hephaestus the second he stepped off the chariot. Valdez gets to deal with him.”

That was a relief, at least. Cecil and his cabin-mates were chatty and friendly (though Burl briefly pulled Tory aside to warn him that he should under no circumstances play poker with them), and Tory was starting to finally feel at ease by the time they reached the amphitheater. He sat down with the Hermes cabin, and Cecil identified the other cabins for him. Some of them had only one or two members; others were quite large. The Apollo cabin didn’t look that big, but Cecil told him that was just because some of them were at the infirmary, and some of them were musicians who weren’t sitting with their siblings yet.

“It’s one of the bigger cabins. Apollo gets around,” Julia, one of Cecil’s sisters, informed him. Tory remembered Will saying much the same. Will was chatting with his siblings, but when Tory caught his eye, Will grinned and waved. Tory waved back.

Then the music got started, and Tory happily got caught up in it. The musicians were amazing, and it was fun to watch the bonfire change colors.

When the music ended, an actual centaur stepped into the firelight.

This place was just getting cooler and cooler.

“That’s Chiron, the activities director,” whispered Cecil.

“Campers, we are tonight joined by two new half-bloods,” the centaur announced. “First, we have Royce Desmond, son of Hephaestus.” He swept a hand to indicate where the Hephaestus cabin sat. Royce stood up, looking sullen. The campers dutifully applauded.

After the applause ended, Chiron went on. “And sitting with the Hermes cabin until his parentage is determined is Tory Sumner.”

Tory stood up, feeling his cheeks heat. As he did so, suddenly, light blossomed over his head. He startled and craned his neck, trying to figure out what had happened. Some people were cheering, he realized.

“Ah,” said Chiron. “Hail, Tory Sumner, son of Apollo.”

It took a second for Tory to process that. When he did, his head whipped around so he could look at the Apollo cabin. They were cheering and high-fiving, and Will gave him a thumbs-up.

“Aw, I had money on Aphrodite!” Julia complained. She handed a few coins to one of her sisters.

Tory wasn’t paying attention to her, though. For the second time that day, he felt like crying, but this time, it was with happiness. He had brothers and sisters. Will – cool, kind Will – was his big brother, just as he’d hoped.

He didn’t register much as the evening came to a close. Cecil patted him on the back. “I’ll see you around, Tory. The Apollo cabin’s great; you’ll like it.”

Tory nodded, not quite trusting his voice. He stood and pushed his way through the crowd to Will.

“Hey, little brother,” Will said, and that did it. Tory started crying again, and Will hugged him. “I hope those aren’t I’m-so-disappointed tears.”

“Aww, he’s so cute!” said a girl’s voice, and Tory was suddenly in the middle of a group hug, and oxygen was rapidly becoming an issue.

“Okay, back off, everyone, back off, poor guy’s got a broken arm,” Will laughed. “I’ll formally introduce Tory to all of you back at the cabin. Vamoose.”

The Apollo siblings made various disappointed noises, but they did as Will requested. Will pulled back enough to look into Tory’s face. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Tory sniffled, and Will produced a tissue, which Tory used to wipe his eyes and nose. “I’m really happy. I-I always wanted a big brother.”

“Well, you’ve got plenty to choose from now.” Will glanced away momentarily. “Listen, Tory, could you wait here a sec? I’ve got to talk to Nico.”

“Sure.” Tory watched Will walk away, heart light.

“Hey, there,” said a new voice. Tory looked up to see a young man with dark hair and extremely serious gray eyes. He stuck out his hand. “Malcolm Pace, Athena head counselor. Welcome to camp.”

Tory shook his hand. “Pleased to meet you.”

Next up was a Latino-looking guy with two boys a little younger than Tory himself flanking him. “Leo Valdez, Hephaestus cabin,” he said. “These are my _hermanitos_ , Harley and Ryan. Say hi, boys!”

Tory was automatically a little prejudiced against the Hephaestus cabin because Royce was there, but Leo seemed friendly, as did the younger boys. He shook hands with them.

“Do you know Royce?” Ryan asked.

“Uh, yeah,” said Tory, trying to figure out how to be diplomatic in this case.

“He’s kind of a jerk, isn’t he?” Harley blurted.

Before Tory could commit a diplomatic failure, Leo bopped Harley lightly over the head. “We’ll give him a chance, bro. And if he doesn’t settle down, we’ll settle him down, ‘kay?” He winked at Tory. “Come on. Bedtime for all good little demigods.” With that, Leo ushered his complaining little brothers away.

Tory was then confronted by a guy roughly the size and shape of a brick wall. On his left was a guy who managed to be even bigger. To his right were two girls. The shorter of the girls had the distinction of being the scariest out of the group, with flinty eyes, wiry muscles, and knives strapped to her upper arms, daggers on her hips, and the hilt of a sword poking over her shoulder. The other girl was dark-haired, tall and beautiful, and carried herself like someone who should not, under any circumstances, be messed with.

“Sherman Yang, senior counselor of the Ares cabin,” said the first guy. “You friends with the other new guy?”

Tory’s brain did a quick calculation. These people looked like bullies – big, tough and intimidating – so it might do to imply that he was, in fact, on friendly terms with Royce.

Ultimately, though, he just couldn’t bring himself to tell a lie of that magnitude. “No,” he admitted after a moment.

“Good,” said Sherman, sticking out a meaty hand. “He’s a dick. Meet my sibs, Ellis Wakefield, Xandra Vane and Alyssa Belle Darling.”

Tory gamely shook his hand, trying not to grimace at the crushing grip. A small, hysterical part of his mind went over the names and started singing _one of these things is not like the other . . ._

“Apollo cabin’s okay,” said Ellis.

“Will’s fairly awesome,” said Alyssa.

“Did you get to see di Angelo fight?” the scary girl, Xandra, asked.

Tory nodded. “Yeah. It was . . . pretty amazing.”

“I love him,” said Xandra, not changing her expression one bit. “I’d marry him if only he weren’t-”

She was interrupted by the arrival of Royce. The big bully had obviously seen Tory talking to the Ares campers and decided they were his kind of people. Tory cringed inwardly and tried not to let it show, fearing they’d descend on him like sharks once they figured out he was bully-bait.

“Ooh, it’s Ballerina Tory,” Royce sang out. “Making new friends, ballerina?”

Alyssa Belle Darling turned, and in two flickering motions that Tory couldn’t even follow, had Royce on the ground with her sandal on his chest.

“You dance?” she asked Tory, voice utterly casual.

“Y-yeah.”

“Good. There’ll be a barre up in the mess hall tomorrow at ten. My boyfriend and I will be teaching class. I expect to see you there, Ballet Boy.” She leaned over Royce. “As for you, do not disrespect ballet. I will personally teach Ballet Boy here how to kick your greasy, Southern-friend lard ass.” She took her sandal off his chest. “Now, go away.”

Royce scrambled up and fairly fled. Alyssa watched him and sighed, shaking her head sadly. “The bullies at this camp have really gone downhill since Clarisse left.”

“No kidding,” said Xandra with evident disgust.

“Gods, I miss that heinous bitch,” said Ellis.

The Ares campers moved off, leaving Tory a little nonplused. He looked for Will again and spotted him in close conversation with Nico. And his body language . . .

He was flirting with Nico! Flirting! He kept leaning into Nico’s personal space and touching his arm and shoulder. Nico seemed to be okay with it, bantering with him and smiling, as relaxed as Tory had yet seen him.

And then Will’s hand moved from Nico’s shoulder to his cheek, and he leaned in . . . and the two shared a tender, lingering kiss.

Something went _boom_ in Tory’s head.

Will, recently described by someone who kicked Royce’s ass without even trying as “fairly awesome,” was kissing a boy. Nico, who’d ripped through five enemies and exhibited the kind of power Tory had only ever imagined, was kissing back. They were kissing! It was the first time Tory had ever seen two males kissing each other with his own two eyes.

And nobody seemed to care. Other campers were milling around, and none of them gave a second glance to the two boys. Who were _kissing_.

“I think they’re my favorite couple here,” said a girl’s voice. Tory turned to behold perhaps the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen in person. She smiled kindly and held out a hand for Tory to shake. He did so automatically. “Piper McLean, senior counselor of the Aphrodite cabin. And this is my boyfriend, Jason Grace.”

Jason was perhaps the most handsome guy Tory had ever seen in person. He was tall and blond and looked a bit like Captain America. He, too, smiled in a friendly manner and held out a hand. “Nice to meet you, Tory.”

Tory shook his hand. They were definitely a golden couple, but they seemed nice. He’d noticed Jason chatting with Nico earlier. “Nice to meet you, too.”

“Jason’s from Camp Jupiter,” said Piper. “Has anyone told you about it?”

“Um, Will mentioned something about it while he was working on my arm. It’s for Romans, right?” Tory asked.

“Exactly.” Piper smiled proudly at her boyfriend. “Jason splits his time between Camp Jupiter and here, building shrines for minor gods. His friends call him Pontifex Maximus.”

“Excuse you, but they call me ‘buttface.’ Watch. Hey, break it up, you two!” He yelled the last bit in the general direction of Will and Nico.

“Shut up, buttface!” Will shouted back.

Jason spread his hands as Piper and Tory laughed. “What did I tell you?”

In spite of his football-captain appearance, Tory was finding Jason somehow disarming. “Who’s your dad? Uh, maybe mom? God?” he dared to ask.

“I’m a son of Jupiter. The only son of Jupiter, actually,” Jason said. “My sister is the daughter of Zeus. Zeus or Jupiter is the god of the sky. Wind, lightning and all that. Hey, speaking of which, I hear you guys had a run in with some _venti_.”

“Those whirlwind things?” Tory asked. Jason nodded. “Yeah, this bully named Dylan and his buddies-”

“Dylan?” Jason interrupted. “That jerk? He’s still around? I’m going to have to do something about him, I swear.”

Before Tory could ask about that, an explosion of voices cut in from off to his left. Three people, two boys and a girl, were shouting at each other. One of the boys was speaking English. The girl and the other boy weren’t. Tory thought maybe Spanish was involved, but it was all so loud and garbled he couldn’t be sure.

Piper pointed at them. “Not my favorite relationship at this camp.”

“What’s happened now?” Jason asked.

Piper gave Tory a sly look. “Want some hot gossip?” Tory nodded enthusiastically. Growing up in a small town offered few diversions except hot gossip. “Okay, so, Chiara and Damien – he’s the shorter of the two guys – were going out and breaking up on a regular basis. Then, about a month ago, after a spectacular blowout with Damien in the mess hall, Chiara started going out with Paolo, who’s the hot Brazilian with the muscles. But two days ago, she caught Damien and Paolo making out, and it’s been a trilingual screaming match ever since.” She shook her head. “If you ask me, they ought to have a three-way and be done with it.”

Jason made a choking noise. “Gods, Pipes, I wish you wouldn’t say things like that.” Even in the firelight, it was easy to see he was blushing.

“But you’re so cute when you get embarrassed,” Piper teased.

Nico brushed by Tory on his way out of the amphitheater and quite deliberately body-checked Jason. Jason didn’t miss a beat and grabbed Nico in a headlock. Nico wrestled with him for a moment before disappearing into a shadow and reappearing a few feet away. Jason stumbled briefly, but rapidly relocated Nico and made a quick gesture. A sudden gust of wind took Nico’s feet out from under him.

Nico rolled and was on his feet in a second, whipping his sword out of its scabbard to meet a sword Jason had pulled out of nowhere, which gleamed gold in the firelight. Both boys were grinning, eyes alight with challenge.

“Five drachma on di Angelo!” Cecil called out.

“Eh, it’s a bit late, and I’ve had a long day,” said Nico, sheathing his sword. “Rain check?”

“Rain check,” Jason agreed. He flipped his sword in his hand, and it turned into a gold coin, which he pocketed.

Tory wondered if he was ever going to get used to things like that.

“Good night, Tory,” said Piper, taking Jason’s hand. “I hope you like it here.”

Tory looked up at Will, who’d come to stand beside him. “I think I will.”

Nico stretched and rolled his head as if working kinks out of his neck. “I think I’m going to take the short way back. Want to come with me?”

“I think you’ve shadow-traveled enough today,” said Will. “Why don’t you walk with us?”

Nico grudgingly acquiesced, and the three of them set off across a wide, grassy field toward the lake.

“The cabins are just on the other side,” Will explained. “Someone from the Apollo cabin will show you around tomorrow – I’m going to be on infirmary duty – but it’s a really nice campground.”

Tory thought it must be. It was cooler here at night than it was back in Alabama, but it was a refreshing kind of cool. Crickets and other night insects were singing, with bullfrogs adding a bass line. A faint scent of strawberries wafted over the field.

Tory glanced over at Nico and Will, who were holding hands. “So, uh, you didn’t mention that you two are . . ?”

“Sweethearts? Honeys?” Will grinned over at Nico, who gave him a Look. “Yeah, for almost two years now.”

“Some days, it feels a lot longer,” Nico deadpanned.

Will grinned, taking the trenchant comment in stride. “And to be honest, Tory, it didn’t even occur to me to say anything. Nico and I are so used to everyone knowing we’re a couple that it doesn’t seem out of the ordinary at all.”

“That’s great.” Tory thought it was, too. For these guys, being gay and accepted was normal, and that sounded absolutely fantastic to Tory. “I, uh, I’m gay, too.”

It was the first time he’d said it aloud. It was strangely freeing.

Will ruffled Tory’s curly hair. “I thought you might be. The ol’ gaydar is still working. Don’t worry about it, by the way. People around here can be jerks to each other for a lot of reasons-”

“Or no reason at all, especially if they’re Drew Tanaka,” Nico put in.

“-but sexual orientation? Nah, too many people here are on the not-exactly-straight spectrum for that, especially in the Apollo cabin. This is a safe place for LGBTQ kids. As safe as anywhere is for demigods, anyway.” Will smiled at Tory again. “The only rule is that you can’t date Aphrodite boys. They’re ridiculously good-looking, but Apollo-Aphrodite relationships inevitably begin and end with drama, and there’s drama in the middle, too. But there are plenty of other cabins to choose from.”

Will pointed out a few items of interest as they skirted the canoe lake on their way to the cabins – the Athena Parthenos shining on the hill, the mess hall and dining pavilion, the showers, and finally, Hestia’s hearth. It was too dark to see much of the cabins, but what he saw looked . . . interesting.

Will guided him to a cabin that looked like a cozy cottage with yellow flowers around it.

“ _Buona notte_ , Will.” Nico and Will shared one last, brief kiss. “Night, Tory. See you around.”

Will sighed as Nico walked away. “Tory, I am a lucky, lucky man.” 

Tory could appreciate that. Nico still kind of scared him, but there was no denying he was hot. 

Will put an arm around Tory’s shoulders and set a hand on the cabin’s doorknob. “Time to meet your family.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be continued and concluded shortly.
> 
> Sincerest apologies to the good people of Podunkville, Alabama.


	4. The Story of Tory (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tory discovers that his siblings are as weird and awesome as Camp Half-Blood itself, Nico is less scary than he thought, and that there's nothing wrong with wanting more for yourself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so some headcanon about my OCs: Will is actually the third-oldest person in his cabin. Mia is almost a year older, and Jordan is several months older. However, Will's been at camp longer than either of them, since they both came in at 12 and he came in at 10. Furthermore, when Michael died during the Titan War, they needed the best healer they had to step up, and Will was more or less elected. I doubt I'll ever have a reason to exposition that in a fic, but I kind of wanted people to know.
> 
> Also, I'm sorry this has taken so long to post. Real Life happened.

Will must have seen the nervousness on Tory’s face, because he said, “They’re great; you’re going to love them, and I know they’ll love you. I won’t say we never have any drama in our cabin, but truthfully, we all get along very well. And here we go!” Will pushed open the door –

\- and they were instantly met with a wall of pure sound.

“What is your damage?” a sandy-haired guy demanded of another. “I never said Survivor was as good as Journey! I just deny that Jimi Jamison was a, quote, ‘poor man’s Steve Perry’!”

The other guy, who was tall and freckled and messy-haired, shot back, “You were the one who made the comparison between them in the first place!”

The arguing boys were currently the loudest thing going on, but they were far from the only noisy thing happening in the cabin. A girl sat on the floor, banging a pair of pointe shoes on it. A girl with rainbow dreadlocks lay on an upper bunk with earbuds in, singing an old Mariah Carey song (and doing it justice). The girl on the bunk below her, a blond bombshell in a ‘50s-style sundress and high heels, was filing her nails and idly harmonizing. A guy Tory recognized from the musicians earlier in the night was tuning a guitar. Carli, the girl who’d yelled at Nico earlier, sat on a lower bunk with a tablet, watching something and crying her eyes out. Another of the musicians from earlier was noodling on a sax. A redhead with a green streak in her hair was stringing a bow. Two girls were playing a card game near the back. Everybody else was either having their own conversations or egging on the arguers.

“But you can’t just ignore that they had some great hits,” the first of the arguing boys protested. “I mean, ‘Eye of the Tiger’? ‘The Moment of Truth’?”

“Oh, excuse me, they provided songs for movies about legalized physical assault!”

“Come on, even Queen did movie soundtracks, and they were not all brilliant movies!”

At that point, half the cabin sang, “Flash! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!”

The guy tuning the guitar finished and launched into the guitar hook from “Beat It.”

“Don’t you dare bring Queen into this!”

“Who should I bring? Foreigner? America? Chicago? Boston?”

Bang! Bang!

Sobs.

Twang! went the bowstring.

“Look, you were the one who wanted to include Jamison in the pantheon of great ‘80s voices!”

“Oh, try to deny he does a beautiful vocal on ‘The Search Is Over.’ You can’t!”

“That song is just ‘Faithfully’ with the serial numbers filed off and soaked in synth!”

“Everybody did synth in the ‘80s! Even freaking ZZ Top!”

Van Halen.

Whistle tones.

More sobbing.

Someone from outside yelled, “Solace, either shut the door or SHUT THEM UP!”

“Cover your ears,” Will told Tory, and then put two fingers into his mouth.

“HE’S GONNA WHISTLE PEOPLE SHUT THE HELL UP!” someone yelled. Sudden panic seemed to take hold of the cabin, with people passing along the message and covering their ears. Someone threw a stuffed animal at the rocking-out Guitar Guy. The bombshell used one of her heels to knock on the upper bunk, getting the attention of Mariah Carey Girl, who quickly caught on and stopped singing. In moments, the whole cabin was silent except for Carli’s sniffles.

Will sighed and walked over to her. He checked her tablet. She looked guilty.

“Okay, first of all, who let Carli watch animal rescue videos?” Will asked of the cabin in general. “You all know that’s her Kryptonite!”

Carli’s chin wobbled. “It was about a dog, and she was abandoned and starving and sick on the streets of Vladivostok, and someone took her in, and now she’s soooo beautiful!” She started crying again.

Will fiddled with the tablet and handed it back to her. “Here. Play some Angry Birds. Also, give my boyfriend a break; he did what he had to do to get us all, including Cloudy and Winthrop, out of a bad situation in one piece. Nico doesn’t deserve to have you yelling at him. Okay?”

Carli looked a little ashamed. “Okay. I’ll apologize to him.”

Will nodded. “Thanks. I know how much you care about the pegasi. Dan, Jordan, you can settle the ‘80s Vocal Pantheon later with the caveat that you will have your Phil Collins discussion outside the cabin. The rest of you jokers need to meet your new brother.” He ushered Tory forward. “Everyone, meet Tory Sumner. Tory, I’m sorry to inform you that these are your siblings.” 

“Hi, Tory!” the entire cabin chorused.

He started going around the room. “You’ve already met Nicky. Mia’s in the upper bunk.” Both girls smiled brightly and waved. “Next bunk, we have Brigitte in the upper bunk and August in the lower.”

“Call me Augie,” said the blond bombshell. She tapped a board with the words “She, Her, Hers” written on it hanging from the upper bunk. “Please pay attention to my pronouns. They’ve been known to change.”

“Luz is the one banging her shoes on the floor, and she shares a bunk with Carli. Luz is new this summer, as is Hikaru back there, who is sharing a bunk with Janet.” The two card-playing girls waved cheerfully. “Kayla with the bow is currently bunking with Austin. We’ve also got Jordan, who is loud, sharing a bunk with Marc, and Dan, who is also loud, bunking with Ken.” Guitar guy waved. Dan and Jordan were busy staring each other down, possibly contemplating their next move in the ‘80s Vocal Pantheon fight.

Will pointed to the last unidentified guy, who was spectacularly good-looking. “Finally, you will be bunking with Vitaly, which is fitting, since you’re both dancers.”

“What kind of dance?” Vitaly asked, perking up. He had some kind of accent.

“Uh, ballet,” said Tory, still a little shy about admitting it.

That appeared to interest Vitaly, who jumped up and approached. “First position, please.”

Tory immediately complied. He was proud of his first position.

Vitaly looked him over. “Lift chest and drop shoulders a touch, but nice turnout. Good legs and feet. You will be coming to ballet class tomorrow, yes?”

“Alyssa already commanded him to,” said Will.

“Ah.” Vitaly looked pleased and proud. “She is my girlfriend. I am lucky man, no?”

Tory thought he must be a very brave man, but all he said was, “Yeah.”

“Vitaly won’t be with us for the entire summer, since he has an apprenticeship with the New York City Ballet to go to,” Will began, but Tory interrupted him.

“Really?” He turned huge eyes on Vitaly. “They’re incredible! Have you met any of the principals yet? I watch their YouTube videos all the time! I want to go to the SAB, but-”

Will laughed. “Slow down, buddy. We’ve got lights-out at eleven, and there are still things I need to go over with you. Cabin rules, for instance.”

“We have rules?” Jordan asked.

“I thought this place was Chaotic Neutral,” said Marc.

“No, it’s just plain chaotic,” said Austin.

“Contrary to my siblings’ beliefs, we do have some rules. Sit down.” Will patted the bed closest to the door, which was playing host to several medical books and a plush duck. “Lights out is no later than eleven pm. Do not go out at night without permission, because we have harpies on patrol and they will put you in the infirmary.”

Tory laughed. When he saw that no one else was laughing, he stopped. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” said Will. “We do have a cabin bathroom.” Will nodded at a door across the cabin. “Feel free to use it at night. Otherwise, it’s first come, first served unless someone has an injury that won’t let them use the camp showers. Most of us wake up with the sun, but breakfast starts at eight if you feel like lazing around. There’s an Apollo cabin weekly schedule posted by the door. Don’t forget to check the new one every Monday morning. The Apollo cabin also runs the infirmary, and everyone has shifts there. We’ll train you. Aside from that, it’s not really that complicated. You’re our brother now, and we’ll look out for you.” Will squeezed Tory’s shoulder. “All the same, if you smack-talk some big Ares brute or play poker with any Hermes kid, we’ll figure you deserve what you get. Any questions?”

Tory could only think of one. “Um, my stuff’s not going to be here for a few days, so, what do I do for clothes and stuff until then?”

“Taken care of,” said Mia. She pointed to a bag sitting on Tory’s bunk. “It’s got soap and shampoo and other hygiene products and some basic clothing. You know, a set of pajamas, some shorts and t-shirts, underwear and socks.” She looked at Will. “I had Valentina eyeball him, so everything should fit.”

That simplified matters. With Will’s help, Tory got cleaned up and changed into the pajamas in the bag Mia had left him. They fit perfectly. When he got out of the bathroom, some of his siblings were still up and talking while others had pulled curtains around their bunks.

“They’re enchanted to block out noise,” Will explained as he showed Tory the curtains on his own bunk. “One of the senior campers always has theirs open in case there’s an emergency.” He laid a hand on Tory’s bad arm, which was a bit sore, but not aching the way it had been before. “That’s healing nicely. You’ll be able to ditch the brace by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Thanks, Will,” said Tory.

Will hugged him. “You’re very welcome, little brother. Get some sleep. Tomorrow’s your first full day at Camp Half-Blood.”

Tory settled in his bunk, awkwardly pulling the blankets over himself with his left arm. Vitaly suddenly appeared, hanging upside down from the top bunk.

“You like boys or girls, Tory?” he asked.

“Uh, boys?”

“Ah. Good. There is nice Demeter boy taking ballet class who is about your age. I will introduce you. Good night!” Vitaly withdrew back to his bunk, and Tory heard him pulling his curtain. Tory decided to do the same just as Will turned out the lights.

Yeah, Tory thought he’d like it here just fine.

***

By breakfast time the next day, Tory had modified that opinion. Camp Half-Blood was 1) weird, 2) often scary, 3) really weird, 4) occasionally life-threatening, 5) really, really weird, and 6) completely awesome. And his siblings were the weirdest and most awesome of all.

The Apollo cabin was chaos, all right. Valentina, the Aphrodite camper who’d correctly eyeballed Tory’s size, made a crack about every morning being Coachella in the Apollo cabin, and she wasn’t far wrong. Tory had never seen so many bizarre fashions in his life, yet his siblings made them work. There was daily drama, but as fast as arguments blew up in the Apollo cabin, they blew out just as quickly.

His siblings had major talents, too. In no time, he was learning to heal from Will, to dance from Mia and Vitaly (as well as Alyssa Belle Darling), to play guitar from Ken, and to shoot from Kayla. There were other campers and counselors to learn from, too. Thom “Fish” Fischer from the Nike cabin was a Junior Nationals swimming champion, and he loved to teach other campers to swim. Tory, having never learned back home, joined in the lessons. Malcolm Pace taught him to play chess. Alyssa Belle taught him how to sucker-punch bullies in the nads.

And Nico taught swordplay.

The first time Tory went to Nico’s sword class, he was frankly scared. He’d seen how Nico fought and knew he absolutely couldn’t do that, and Nico, despite his relationship with Will, terrified Tory. However, he quickly discovered that Nico was a patient, tolerant teacher, especially when it came to his younger students. Tory learned basic swordplay, but he wasn’t ever very good at it. All the same, he grew to enjoy the class.

Part of the reason for that was that Bryan Terry, a thirteen-year-old son of Demeter, took the young campers’ sword class with him. Vitaly had introduced them at ballet class. Bryan was terrible at ballet, but he was easygoing and friendly and had the most beautiful green eyes.

“Nico told me to take the ballet class,” Bryan explained one day as they practiced the forms Nico had taught them. “I’m a klutz. Nico thought ballet might help. And if I can’t learn from him, my sister Meg has threatened to teach me herself, and she’s scary.”

Tory chuckled. “And Nico’s not scary?”

“Compared to Meg? He’s a fluffball.” Bryan sneaked a glance at their instructor. “A really hot fluffball.”

It was another bombshell moment for Tory to meet an openly gay boy his own age. He tried to play it nonchalant. “Yeah, Nico’s kind of gorgeous, all right.”

“He and Will are, like, relationship goals. Ask one of the Aphrodite kids about them sometime to get their story. Be careful with that, though; you’ll probably also get the Ballad of Percy and Annabeth, the Tale of Piper and Jason, the Odyssey of Leo and Calypso, and the Tragic Romance of Beauregard and Beckendorf, too. At minimum.”

“The Aphrodite cabin’s the one that always has a cloud of perfume around it, right?” Tory asked. He was still getting the cabins straight. The Ares cabin was pretty distinctive, with its barbed wire and guard towers, and so were the Big Three cabins. The Demeter cabin stood out, too, since it looked like it was grown rather than built. He was forever getting the other cabins mixed up, especially the minor gods’ cabins.

“That’s the one,” said Bryan.

Class came to an end, and Tory sheathed his steel practice sword without regret as the Ares cabin marched into the arena. Xandra the Scary Girl attacked Nico without any preamble. He parried her attack easily, and the two of them were soon sparring furiously.

It was both scary and thrilling to watch, but Tory didn’t have much time to appreciate it before a piercing whistle caused everyone in the arena to cringe simultaneously.

Nico threw a halfhearted glare at Will. “Was that really necessary?”

Will looked unrepentant. “As long as you two keep slicing into each other without switching to steel? Yeah. Celestial bronze injuries are a bitch to treat, and Stygian iron is even worse.”

“Steel is for wusses,” said Xandra.

“Will’s right,” said Sherman Yang. He grabbed a steel sword. “Protocol says we use steel for sparring unless fully armored.”

Xandra looked deeply unimpressed, but sheathed her Celestial bronze sword.

“Time to go, bro,” said Will, ushering Tory gently toward the exit.

“I’m beginning to get why people hate your whistles,” Tory said, rubbing at his ear.

Will grinned. “I once stopped a battle by whistling. I consider it my finest hour. Hey, Leo!”

Leo Valdez, who was leading his cabin into the woods, waved cheerfully. Tory fought the urge to hide as Royce glanced over his way. He hadn’t seen much of the big bully since landing at camp, and he preferred to keep it that way. Royce looked even more sullen than usual, and he appeared to have burned off his eyebrows at some point.

For a moment, their eyes locked. Royce broke eye contact first and trudged into the forest along with his siblings.

***

As a first-year camper, Tory was given more opportunities to talk to his mother than most of the other kids. Burl had arranged a call the day after Tory had arrived, and they’d talked two weeks later as well. Now, a little over a month after his arrival, Tory had been given a third phone call.

While he enjoyed talking with his mom, though, this call brought some bad news: Grandma Del had suffered a sudden heart attack, and she’d died before they could get her to the hospital.

After leaving the Big House, Tory wandered down toward the cabins. He’d cried a little when his mom had told him about Grandma Del, and now, he simultaneously wanted to be alone and to have someone to talk to. Mostly, he was just sad.

And then a gentle arm settled around his shoulders and steered him toward the Hades cabin. Tory looked up to see Nico di Angelo, and he suddenly understood that this was who he’d wanted to talk to.

Inside, the Hades cabin was cool and somber, but welcoming, in a way. Nico led Tory to a shrine where he lit a candle and then faced Tory.

“Who was it?” Nico asked gently.

Tory swallowed against the tightness in his throat. “Grandma Del. She-she wasn’t my actual grandma, but I never even met my real grandparents, and Grandma Del . . . she was who I’d want to be my grandma, you know?”

Nico nodded, a little bit of a smile easing into his face. “I know exactly what you mean.”

The words came spilling out as Tory told Nico all about Grandma Del, about her bright clothing and the huge silk flowers she’d wear in her hair, about how she’d make him grilled cheese sandwiches and talk to him as he sat at the counter of her diner, how she’d sometimes “forget” to charge him for glasses of sweet tea, how she’d give him advice about life and dealing with people like Royce . . .

Tory swiped at his eyes with the tissue Nico had given him at some point. “I know she wasn’t my real grandma, but . . .” He trailed off, not able to figure out how he wanted to end the sentence.

But Nico seemed to understand. “She was important to you. You don’t have to make excuses for that, Tory; grief is a sign of love, and love doesn’t discriminate. We demigods often have to create our own families beyond the bonds of blood. That doesn’t make them any less real.”

Tory nodded. “That’s what Mom always told me. I mean, not the demigod thing, but she – her parents, they didn’t care when she left home, they never tried to meet me. She told me we can find our own family.” He looked down, remembering. “I-I think Grandma Del knew I’m gay, just from little things she said. There weren’t a lot of people in that town who were okay with – with anybody who was different, but she was. And . . . I think if I’d told her, she’d have said what she always did: ‘We’re all God’s children, honey, and that’s all that matters.’”

“Well, you’re a god’s child,” Nico said dryly. Tory couldn’t help but laugh, and Nico smiled. He looked a little wistful, to Tory’s eyes, as he reached over and grabbed a picture off of the shrine. It was a pencil drawing of a pretty girl who looked a lot like Nico.

“She was my sister.” Nico looked down at the picture, a sad half-smile on her face. “Bianca and I were born in Italy in the 1930s.” Tory’s eyebrows leaped to his forehead. “We were placed outside of time by our father in order to protect us. Ask Will sometime. Bianca was my sister, my protector, and my only family. But she died when I was ten.”

Nico reverently placed the picture back on the shrine. “I didn’t exactly deal with her death, or realizing I was a son of Hades, well. I spent a lot of years trying to protect myself, not let anyone in. And it didn’t help that I realized I had a crush on a boy.”

Tory went back over what Nico had told him. “You were born in the 1930s. That must have been . . . you must have been scared.”

Nico nodded. “Terrified. I was convinced everyone would be revolted by me if they knew. I felt like . . . like only Bianca had ever truly accepted me. I think she’d have understood, if she’d known. Maybe she did.” He shrugged. “It took me a long time to stop being afraid. I found out I have a half-sister, Hazel. She’s the one who drew that picture when I described Bianca to her. And Jason, when I was forcibly outed, he didn’t judge me. He wanted to be my friend. There were others, too, and eventually, I learned to accept myself and allow myself to get close to other people again. I lost my whole family once, but now I’ve got a new one. They’re just as important to me as my mother and Bianca were.”

It was something Tory could understand. “When I realized I was gay, I remember reading this essay about how gay people often have to find their own families after they’re rejected by their blood kin. My mom loves me, at least.”

“That’s a good thing. Better than I’ve heard from some campers here,” said Nico. “Some demigods are rejected by their families, so they end up living here. One girl – I can’t tell you who she is – got thrown out by her mother when she came out as a lesbian. I sensed grief in her and asked her if she’d like to talk about it. She ended up coming in here to light a candle, mourning the relationship she’d never again have with her mother.” He gestured as if indicating the cabin as a whole. “That’s what this place is for. Grieve when you need to; I’ll never judge, and whatever you say to me will be confidential.”

The candle caught Tory’s attention again. “If-if I light a candle for Grandma Del in here, do you think she’d be okay with that? She was always a Christian.”

“Grief rituals aren’t for the dead, Tory,” Nico told him. “The soul goes where it goes, and don’t let anyone tell you anything else. Trust me, I know. The rituals are for the living, to remember and honor the dead. I think Grandma Del would definitely be okay with that.”

Tory talked to Nico for a while longer, about friends and family and grief, and when he finally left the Hades cabin, he felt lighter. He also decided he was developing a bit of a crush on his big brother’s boyfriend, but he suspected Will would understand.

***

As summer wore on, Tory began to realize this was the happiest he’d ever been. At Camp Half-Blood, he wasn’t an oddity. His skin color, his sexual orientation, the circumstances of his birth, his likes, were taken completely in stride by everyone else. There was certainly drama – the place was packed with teenagers, and you couldn’t expect anything else – but he had more friends than he’d ever had, he had siblings, and he could swear Bryan was flirting with him.

It all came to a head as he talked with Augie one day. Augie was usually a girl, but that day was a boy. The whole thing greatly interested Tory.

“How do you know?” Tory asked his sibling.

“How do you know?” Augie shot back. “Checking your pants doesn’t count, by the way.”

That thought brought Tory up short. How did he know? “I guess . . . I just am a boy. I dunno.”

Augie leaned back and stretched, resting his head on his arms. “It’s the same with me. Most days, I wake up, and I know I’m a girl. It doesn’t matter what my body says.”

Tory knew Augie was male-bodied and didn’t plan on changing that, except perhaps getting some excess body hair lasered off. When she was a girl, though, there was a certain lightness and freedom about her. She seemed to revel in her femininity; as a girl, she tended to be a bit louder, a bit more daring, a bit funnier and sharper.

As a boy, he was different, quieter and more subdued. Today, he was in loose shorts and a Camp Half-Blood tee, and his hair was pulled back into a ponytail. He never lost his piquant edge, but he was less prone to joining in the bantering and bickering of his siblings. The contrast was something Tory found fascinating.

“You know, I think boy-Augie is a bit of a defense mechanism sometimes,” Augie mused. “I notice I go male whenever I’ve been feeling vulnerable. It’s probably because it was safer to be a boy back in my old hometown of Shithole, Kansas.”

Tory snorted. “That’s something I can understand. I’m not out at home. At all. I . . . yeah, I don’t like to even think about what would happen if I tried.”

Augie’s eyes were distant, and there was pain in his face. “The best day of my life was the day I came here. Sure, my life may be in danger every time we play Capture the Flag, but I can be who I am without . . .” He trailed off and set his jaw. “I’m not going back. Ever.”

“I don’t wanna go home,” Tory confessed quietly to Will later that day in the infirmary as they treated Sherman Yang’s head wounds. There had been a game of Capture the Flag, and the way they played it at Camp Half-Blood redefined “contact sport.” Tory always volunteered for infirmary duty so he couldn’t be roped into playing.

“What?” Sherman asked loudly. His eyes crossed.

“Nothing important, Sherm. Why don’t you get some rest?” Will suggested as he tucked the last bit of gauze into place.

“Kay.” Sherman lay down and promptly started snoring. 

Will laid a hand against Sherman’s head and concentrated for a moment. “Good, there’s no cranial bleeding. He’ll be fine.” He looked at Tory. “You were saying?”

“I . . . I don’t want to go home.” Tory looked down. “Aside from my mom, there’s literally nothing left in that town that I want to see again. I know some campers stay here all year. Maybe I could?”

Will looked thoughtful. “Maybe. I have an idea that might work. Let me talk to Mia.”

***

Two weeks later, Tory wasn’t sure he should’ve let Will talk to Mia. It turned out that Will’s bright idea was to have Tory audition to get into Mia’s school. After some intensive prep with Mia, Vitaly and (especially) Alyssa Belle, Tory was confident his audition piece was as good as he could make it, but auditioning still wasn’t his idea of fun.

Telling his mom also hadn’t been his idea of fun, but she was, as always, sanguine about the unexpected twists and turns of life.

“You’re right to want to stay,” she’d said. “This place was never good for you. Who knows but that I might take the show on the road, too?”

Tory wondered if she might. His mom was just the type of person to uproot her whole life and move to New York on a whim.

Nico shadow-traveled him, Will and Mia into New York City near her school. Again, he didn’t enjoy the trip, but at least this time, he kept his lunch.

“Ugh, I’m never gonna get used to that,” Mia groaned.

“You Apollo kids are the worst about shadow-travel,” Nico said dismissively.

Mia glared at Will. “I’m gonna have to hurt your man if he keeps up with that attitude.”

Will looked smug. “You can try.”

They walked about two blocks to the front of the school, where a man and a woman were waiting, along with a girl who looked a few years younger than Tory.

“Mama! Papa! Teresita!” Mia rushed to greet them.

“That’s Mia’s family,” Will told Tory. “Her mom’s name is Lorena, her dad – stepdad, but he’s been married to her mom since Mia was really young – is named Reynaldo, and her little sister is Teresa. Lorena and Reynaldo met on Broadway when they were cast in the same musical.”

Lorena looked almost exactly like her daughter, right down to the hairstyle. Teresa favored her father, who was a handsome man with the carriage of a dancer.

Mia introduced her brothers and Nico to her parents, who were happy to meet them, and to her sister, who was shy. “Tory, my Papa is on the board of directors for the school, and he called in a couple of favors to get you an audition. Normally, they’d be over and done by this time.”

“The summer program is going on, so I didn’t inconvenience too many people,” said Reynaldo, who spoke with a slight accent that Tory couldn’t readily place. “We can always use more good boy dancers. I was one of those once upon a time myself, until my joints turned against me.”

Mia wrapped an arm around Tory’s shoulders and ushered him inside. “So, the fiction will be that you’re my cousin, ‘cause you do kinda fit in with my family if you squint.” It was true that Tory’s skin was similar in tone to Mia’s, his hair was the same texture, and he and Mia shared the same bright Apollo smile. “You just moved up from the Deep South, and you want to go to my school. Got it?”

There was one major question on Tory’s mind. “Do you think I’ll get in?”

“Please, bro. We always need male dancers, you have mad talent, and your grades are at least decent enough to get in.” Mia patted him on the back. “Don’t worry. This school is a really good place for demigods. Dancing for half the day takes the edge off the ol’ ADHD we all seem to be blessed with, and they’ve got great resources for dyslexia, too.” She led Tory to a locker room and stopped outside. “Go change into your dancing duds, and then you can warm up and stretch in one of the practice rooms before your audition. Okay?”

“Okay.” Tory was still nervous, but he really wanted this. The school was beautiful, and this was the chance of a lifetime. He changed into his black tights, white shirt and ballet shoes. When he came out, Mia had changed, too, and she led him through a warmup and his audition piece.

And then it was time.

“We can’t come with you, but we’ll be right outside,” said Will, setting a warm hand on Tory’s shoulder. “You’re gonna do great, little bro.”

Tory couldn’t speak, so he just nodded. Then he took a deep breath and went into the audition room, which was a large ballet studio with three serious-looking people at the far end. He approached, and the woman in the center smiled kindly.

“Hello, Tory,” she said. “I’m Wanda Lee, director of the dance program here. Also joining us today are Chet Maitland and Cathy Gaspard, two of our instructors. Are you ready?”

Tory still couldn’t speak, so he just nodded. Wanda Lee used a remote control to start Tory’s audition song, and he began to dance. His nervousness immediately vanished as he went through the choreography Vitaly, Alyssa and Mia had helped him create and perfect. He could almost hear Alyssa bellowing at him to get his gods-damned shoulders away from his ears.

Time seemed to stop as he danced, only to resume as soon as the song ended. He bowed to the committee . . . and was startled to see Cathy Gaspard wiping away tears. Chet Maitland was leaning forward, intent, and Wanda was sitting with a gentle smile on her face.

“Tory, that was . . . magical,” Wanda said after a moment. “You have a real gift.”

“Really?” he blurted. He knew he’d always picked up moves quickly at the ballet studio back home, and he loved performing, but the past few weeks working with the other dancers at Camp Half-Blood had been harder than anything he’d ever done. While he’d always stood out as the only boy in his ballet class, dancing alongside people like Vitaly, Sebastian and Mitchell had made him feel like he was light years behind.

“I can’t wait to work with you,” said Chet. “If you don’t get in, I’ll eat my shoes.”

“I agree,” Cathy added. “You have such musicality. There are things in your technique that can be improved, but there’s no way to teach the type of feeling you imbue your dancing with. We’ll certainly be recommending you for admission, and I hope we’ll see you in the fall.”

By the time Tory left the room, he was walking in a happy dream. “They liked me,” he told Mia, face hurting from smiling so much.

“Of course they did,” she said, more than a little smug, and hugged him. “And don’t worry about tuition, either.”

“Tuition?” It suddenly occurred to Tory that this wasn’t a public school. “How much are we talking about? ‘Cause we’re not exactly rich.”

“Like I said, don’t worry. We Apollo kids have our ways.” She winked. “So, now that you’ve won over the committee, what do you want to do next?”

Two things came immediately to mind. “First, I’ve gotta pee.” Everyone laughed. “And I’m hungry.”

“Go change your clothes, and then we’ll talk about getting some food,” said Will, cuffing him lightly on the head.

When Tory returned from the locker room, Mia’s parents and little sister were standing with Will, Nico and Mia. They appeared to be discussing something rather intently.

“What’s going on?” Tory asked.

“Oh, Dad was taking care of some bureaucratic hoo-hah for you,” Mia said breezily. “Also, we were thinking about going to our favorite Indian place, but Nico seems to have another idea.”

Nico looked at him. “I was thinking you might like to meet my substitute grandmother.”

***

Caffe Veneto was unlike any Italian restaurant Tory had ever been to, but Nonna really did remind him strongly of Grandma Del. Sure, she was about a foot shorter and Italian, but there was no mistaking the grandma-ness of her. She immediately grabbed Nico and kissed him on both cheeks. They chattered in Italian for a few minutes before Nonna ushered the group to a table and promised them bread.

“So, what were you discussing for so long in the office?” Lorena Pedroza asked her husband. She was a dance teacher at the school.

“The young man’s future,” said Reynaldo. “I have a feeling it is a bright one.” He gave Tory a conspiratorial smile.

Mia was puzzling over the menu. “Nico, I thought I knew Italian food pretty well, but this menu – it’s an education, is what it is. Also, I think I’d have to take two years of Italian in order to make heads or tails out of it, so there’s that.”

“You know Americanized Italian food pretty well.” Nico looked downright disdainful. “This is authentic Venetian cuisine. Accept no substitutes.”

Will smirked. “I’m sorry, but who was it who downed two of those ginormous Costco slices last time we came to town . . ?”

Nico glared. “Shut up, Will.”

In spite of the fact that they all laughed at him, Nico helped the others to order. He hadn’t forgotten that Tory was vegetarian, and Tory ended up with a quattro formaggio gnocchi that . . . well, Tory decided that if he died a virgin, it was okay, because he’d eaten that pasta. Nico also ordered them a bunch of donut-like pastries called fritelle for dessert, and Tory fell in love again.

“I know you wanted to stay at camp, but it’s hard to do that and go to school at the same time,” said Mia as they ate their dessert. “If you want to, you can come live with us during the school year. Alyssa lived with us for two years before she moved in with the Sarkesians.”

Tory looked from his sister to her parents. “Is – is that okay?”

Lorena made a dismissive gesture. “We have more than enough room. We’ll just say you’re my nephew.”

“That sounds . . . I mean, if it’s okay with you guys, that sounds great.” Tory had become quite close with Mia over the past month. She was the cool big sister he’d never had, quite literally.

“I already talked it over with Mama and Papa, so don’t worry.” Mia grinned. “Besides, you can’t possibly be any more trouble than Alyssa. She once broke a guy’s hand on the subway. In her defense, that hand had just groped my fifteen-year-old ass.”

“Justifiable,” Nico muttered darkly.

Mia looked like she didn’t disagree. “Girlfriend has a temper, is what I’m saying.”

They chatted more while Nonna fussed over the group. Eventually, they had to leave, and there was a minor dustup over who’d pay.

“No, I insist,” said Reynaldo.

“Not happening.” Nico flashed a black credit card. “My choice of food, I pay. Besides, my dad has all the money. Literally, all of it.”

Nico ultimately prevailed, and Nonna hugged and kissed them all as they left. “You will come again, won’t you?” she asked Tory and the Pedrozas.

“Oh, you can bet we will,” said Lorena, hugging Nonna again.

“Good, good.” Nonna took Will’s hand. “You are taking good care of my Nico, yes?”

“As good as I can.” Will leaned in and kissed her cheek. “We’ll see you again soon, I’m sure.”

Nonna turned her attention to Tory. “You come again, too, beautiful little boy.” She hugged him, and Tory hugged back, feeling like he’d found another grandma.

***

Nico shadow-traveled them back to camp. As usual, the Apollo kids were left feeling a little worse for wear. Nico was utterly unsympathetic.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, my little rays of sunshine,” he said with a dark little chuckle. He gave Will a quick kiss and headed for his cabin.

Mia looked green in the dim light. “Will, you know I love your boyfriend, but I sometimes suspect him of being kind of an awful person.”

“How dare you say such things about my sweet Prince of the Underworld,” Will said mildly.

“Tory!” The shout came from across the green. Alyssa Belle Darling was jogging toward them. “How did it go?”

“He nailed it,” Mia told her.

Alyssa let out a war whoop. “I knew you would! Get over here, Ballet Bro!” She grabbed Tory in a headlock and gave him a vigorous noogie.

“Ow,” Tory commented.

Will chuckled and helped Tory pull himself loose from the daughter of Ares. “Come on, we’ve left the cabin in Jordan’s frankly shaky hands all day, and I can’t wait to see what kind of wreck it is by now.”

The cabin was standing, at least. Will opened the door with some trepidation.

“That is, by far, the dumbest thing you’ve ever said!”

Dan glared at Jordan from his bed. “I didn’t say they were good, but face it, they were early ‘90s icons!”

“Who are jokes now!”

“So are hair bands!”

While this was going on, Vitaly was attempting to take a tablet away from Carli, who was sobbing again. Ken was playing a jazz tune on his shamisen while having an animated conversation in Japanese with Hikaru. Augie was attempting to teach Nicky some dance steps. Brigitte was drawing on a pad while merrily scat-singing to Ken’s playing. Austin was fiddling with a stuck key on his soprano sax and periodically scatting along with Brigitte. Janet was playing the bongos.

Luz tossed a stuffed penguin to Marc. He caught it and said, “ _Ghost Adventures_! They make Nico so crazy. Nicky!” He then flung the penguin over to Nicky, who caught it flawlessly.

“ _Ancient Aliens_ ,” she called.

“Sis, that is not guilty pleasure TV,” said Augie. “I unironically love the Greek guy with the hair.”

“I’m not saying it was aliens, but it was aliens!” chorused half the cabin.

Dan and Jordan couldn’t be distracted from their “discussion.” “All I’m saying is that M.C. Hammer and Vanilla Ice had two of the biggest hits of 1990 and helped bring rap into the mainstream.”

“They were mediocre rappers who ripped off their betters for those hits!”

“Yes, and?”

“Dan, gurl . . .”

“Don’t call me ‘gurl,’ Jordy.”

“Oh, you did not!”

Brigitte caught the penguin. “The Real Housewives, all of them! Kayla!”

The archer snatched the penguin out of the air. “Cheesy, stupid Hallmark movies!”

Ken and Hikaru spontaneously burst into song, still in Japanese.

“No, I need to finish the video!” Carli sobbed

“Is not good for you, little sister, let go,” coaxed Vitaly.

“ _Say Yes to the Dress_!” Janet yelled from near the back of the cabin.

“It’s not like I’m asking to include gods-damned C&C Music Factory!”

“Doesn’t matter! If we’re including Hammer and Vanilla Ice in our Iconic Music Figures of the ‘90s, we might as well include friggin’ Milli Vanilli!”

Dan threw up his arms. “I can’t believe we’re brothers!”

“Oh, gods,” Mia sighed from beside Tory. “We really are freaks, aren’t we?”

“Yep.” Will drew in his breath and raised two fingers to his mouth.

“OH MY GODS SHUT UP GUYS HE’S GONNA WHISTLE-!”

***

It was a week later that Tory got his good news. Mia proudly presented him with a large envelope at an Apollo cabin meeting. Inside was his official letter of acceptance from her school and a copy of the school’s handbook, as well as another, smaller packet. As Tory opened it, the mood in the cabin sobered.

Inside the smaller envelope was a certificate, a picture, and a letter. The certificate informed him that he had been awarded the Eliza Jeane Hanson scholarship, which would cover his tuition.

“She was our sister,” said Will. “She died in a battle last summer. She was thirteen.”

The picture was of a brown-haired girl with a sweet, open face and the bright Apollo smile the entire cabin seemed to share. She was wearing a ‘40s-style dress and dance shoes.

Tory opened the letter.

_Dear Tory,_

_First, congratulations on your acceptance. You will be going to a wonderful school, where my Eliza was so happy. She loved going to school every day and learning how to dance. She was never happier than when she was performing._

_You never met Eliza, but she was your sister. She was the kindest, most loving person. She loved taking care of people almost as much as she loved dancing. She loved all of her siblings, and if she’d known about you, she’d have loved you, too. And I’m sure you would have loved her, just like all her siblings did._

_I set up this scholarship fund to honor my daughter’s life, and it’s only fitting that its first recipient is a child of Apollo. All I ask is that you do your very best._

_I hope we’ll meet, Tory. It’s still too painful for me to go to her school, but sometimes, Mia or Brigitte or another Apollo child comes to see me. Please feel free to come with them. You’ll always be welcome._

_Love,_

_Amanda Hanson_

Tory looked up at Will and was startled to see tears in his eyes. And he wasn’t the only one. Perhaps it was a healer’s instincts kicking in, but Tory knew what he needed to say next.

“Tell me about her.”

***

Life continued as abnormal at Camp Half-Blood. Now that Tory knew where he’d be at the end of the summer, he felt like he could really enjoy it. “Enjoy” might have been a bit strong of a term for the time he got roped (literally) into another of Harley’s Three-Legged Death Races, but still.

He was so distracted that he forgot entirely about the person he’d come to camp with until one sunny afternoon when he was just finishing up working in the infirmary.

“Hey, Tory,” Marc called. “If you’re headed back down to the cabins, do you mind taking this box to the Hephaestus Cabin? It’s their monthly allotment of burn cream.”

“No problem.” Tory grabbed the box, which was a bit heavier than he expected, and made his way down to the campground. The Hephaestus Cabin always struck him as being vaguely steampunk on the outside, but he’d never been inside. He just hoped someone would be there; leaving something on a cabin’s front step was just begging for some sneaky Hermes kid to make off with it. He knocked on the door.

Royce opened it. For a moment, the two boys just stared at each other.

“Uh, here.” Tory held the box stiffly in front of himself. “It’s – it’s burn cream.”

Royce seemed to shake off his shock. “Uh, thanks.” He took the box.

Awkward silence ensued. Tory wasn’t sure how to feel about facing Royce again.

And then it hit him: He wasn’t afraid of Royce any longer. The big bully had once been the scariest thing in Tory’s life. Now, though, he’d seen things that were far more frightening. He’d also seen those things defeated. He’d also learned what real strength and power were.

Take Royce and Nico. Nico was, quite simply, the real deal. He had amazing power, he was a warrior who killed monsters like it was no big deal, he was a child of the freaking Underworld. Yet he wasn’t a bully, because he had nothing to prove. His abilities spoke for themselves; he had no need to show off. He could be affectionate with Will, patient with his students, playful with his friends, and gentle with mourners.

Tory knew only a little about Royce’s life. His mother and stepfather owned the only auto shop in town. They weren’t the nicest people. Tory’s mom preferred to take their old clunker to a mechanic twenty miles out of town rather than deal with them. It was possible they weren’t kind to Royce. Even if they were, they set a pretty terrible example. And Tory could find it in his heart to have compassion on his old bully. 

“Did you hear about Grandma Del?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Royce looked down. “Ma told me last time I talked to her.” The big teen cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. “I liked her. Grandma Del.”

“Everybody did.” Tory shoved his hands in his pockets. His next words even took him by surprise. “I’m not going back to Alabama. I just got accepted to my sister Mia’s school in New York.”

Royce gave him a surprisingly canny look. “You really hated it there, didn’t you?”

It took Tory a second to realize Royce was referring to their hometown, and he nodded. “It wasn’t the best place for a biracial, gay demigod, no.”

Royce’s eyes went wide. “You mean you’re . . .”

In for a penny, Tory thought. “You shouldn’t be surprised, seeing as you called me gay often enough.”

“Oh.” Royce shifted and flushed and raced to change the subject. “I, uh, should get this stuff to Leo.”

“Right. See ya.” Tory turned to leave.

“Uh, Tory?” Royce’s voice sounded uncertain, and his eyes were downcast when Tory turned to face him again. “The way I treated you back home . . . that weren’t right.”

It was an apology Tory had never expected, and he wasn’t sure how to respond. Finally, he said, simply, “Thank you. I-I’ll see you around.”

He walked away, feeling oddly free.

***

That evening, after sunset, there was a showing of _Jurassic Park_ in the amphitheater. Tory went down with his siblings to snag a good spot. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea, so Tory found a patch of unoccupied real estate and sat down with his blanket and snacks along with Nicky, Janet and Luz.

The Hephaestus cabin was setting up the theatrical equipment, some of which looked fairly exotic. Tory had heard that movie screenings here were an interesting, sometimes scary, experience. He could believe it.

He looked around. Most of the couples at camp were sitting together. Jason had just returned from the West Coast, and he and Piper were cuddling. Alyssa and Vitaly, who were headed back to New York for their apprenticeship in a few days, reclined near Nyssa and Kyla. Jordan and Dan were enjoying another of their classic-rock clashes as Jordan’s boyfriend and Dan’s girlfriend rolled their eyes. Near the front, Will lay with his head pillowed on Nico’s belly as Nico idly played with Will’s blond curls.

“Bug juice!” Nicky announced. She and Luz had gone to fetch drinks, and Tory accepted a cup.

As the sun set, the movie started. It was more than just 3D; by some trick the Hephaestus cabin had used, the whole floor of the amphitheater had been transformed into the badlands where the movie opened.

A few minutes in, there was a small disturbance as someone made their way to Tory’s position. Tory looked up into Bryan’s leaf-green eyes.

Bryan gave him a slightly nervous smile. “I’m a little late. Um, can I sit with you?”

Tory smiled back. “Sure.” He heard a giggle from his sisters and decided to ignore it.

Yeah, things were just getting better and better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shamisen: A banjo-like Japanese instrument.
> 
> Sincerest apologies to the good people of Shithole, Kansas.


	5. Fish Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will liked pushing Nico to do things outside his comfort zone, but this one time, he wished he hadn't succeeded quite so well.
> 
> Also, Drew Tanaka remains the worst.

Will liked pushing Nico to do things that were outside his comfort zone. Nico was, by nature and necessity, reluctant to try new things. He had his routines and his likes, and he was not amenable to deviating from them on his boyfriend’s whims. Nevertheless, Will kept trying.

But there were times when he wished he hadn’t succeeded quite so well with his latest bright idea.

“Come on,” he’d urged his boyfriend. “I want to take you surfing sometime, and I can’t do that unless you learn to swim.”

“That sounds a lot like your problem,” Nico deadpanned.

“Please, Nico? Fish runs classes every Tuesday and Thursday. I’ll even join you, okay? I can swim, but I can’t do a good stroke.”

Eventually, he’d worn Nico down. They’d agreed to meet at the canoe lake in time for Thom “Fish” Fischer’s Junior Olympics Swimming Extravaganza.

Fish was a nice guy, fifteen years old, over six foot already, Scandinavian blond with aquamarine eyes and a mischievous smile, and built for swimming. He could give even Percy a run for his money in the water (and did, every chance he got, because no Nike kid can pass up a challenge). There was no limit to his enthusiasm for his chosen sport, and he was actually a better swimming coach than Percy, who, when asked how to swim, would shrug and say, “Uh, you just do it?” 

At the time Nico was supposed to join his boyfriend for a swimming lesson, Fish was running his students through some calisthenics before they got into the water, and Nico was late.

Will was impatiently waiting for his boyfriend when Drew Tanaka sashayed down to the beach, wearing a red-and-white polka-dotted bikini, a quirkily fashionable sun hat, high heeled espadrille sandals, and sunglasses that probably cost more than Will’s entire summer wardrobe. She made a show of spreading out a beach blanket.

“Think you could show your ass to a few more people?” Will asked her as her display went on and on. “I think you might have missed two or three.”

“It’s an ass worth seeing,” she said, but reclined on her blanket and stretched. “Jealous?”

“One, my ass is much better than yours, and two . . .” Will trailed off, because his train of thought had abruptly derailed at his boyfriend’s appearance.

“Oh, my mom,” Drew breathed. “You and I may not agree on much, Solace, but I have to give you props on your taste in men.”

Nico was striding toward the beach wearing only flip-flops and a pair of swimming trunks (black, of course). And it wasn’t like Will hadn’t ever realized his boyfriend had a hot body, but . . . 

He’d never seen quite so _much_ of it all at once.

And now he couldn’t tear his eyes away. Nico was flat-out gorgeous. The lines of his body were lean, almost wiry, like a dancer’s. His shoulders and arms were beautifully developed, of course, but judging by his abs, there was something to be said for swordplay as core work. He was rock-hard through the torso, without an ounce of spare flesh. As for his legs . . . 

Will was seized by a desperate, near-blinding desire to grab Nico and drag him off somewhere to do things they’d decided not to do before they were both at least seventeen.

Nico had, by then, noticed Will and made a beeline for him.

“Well, I’m here,” he announced to his slack-jawed boyfriend. “You got what you wanted.”

“Wouldn’t say that quite yet,” Drew murmured, just loudly enough for Will to hear.

Will resisted the temptation to turn around and kick sand in her face, but only just. Instead, he groped for words.

“Uh, yeah.” Brilliant. Sheer poetry.

Nico cocked his head, eyes narrowing. “You all right, Will? You look like someone just smacked you in the face or something.”

Ignoring Drew’s snicker, Will attempted to re-focus his brain. “No, no, I’m fine. Are you ready for this?”

“As I’ll ever be.” Nico scowled a little. “I’m not so sure these trunks are a great idea.”

“Maybe he should lose them,” Drew hissed.

Gods above, one of these days, Will was going to utterly betray his healer’s conscience, and Drew Tanaka would be the cause.

“They look good,” Will said, trying not to sound too strangled.

“Swimmers, get in the water!” Fish shouted.

Nico sighed and trudged down the beach to the lake.

“Better join him before that bulge in your shorts gets any bigger, Solace,” said Drew.

Seriously, he was going to have to curse her _hard_. “Drew, you are-”

She gleefully interrupted him. “The worst. I know.” 

But not, he reflected, wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I utterly despise people like Drew, but damn if they can't be fun to write.
> 
> Also, Fish may or may not be based on a nationally-ranked junior swimming champ nephew of mine who would totally be a Nike kid if he were a demigod.


	6. A NoSleep Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A librarian posts a story on Reddit about the two strange, beautiful boys who repaid her act of kindness one summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Noelle the librarian first appeared in the second-to-last chapter of "Becoming Us" and also made a cameo in "Finding Us." This is a story idea I've been considering for a while. Nico holds grudges like nobody's business, but I'd imagine that he also remembers every time someone showed him kindness.

Hello, r/nosleep. I’m putting this story here instead of, say, r/paranormal because nobody there would believe this actually happened, and I’m sure some mod would delete it or something. You can all make up your minds, but I swear it’s true. I have to write it down, because I was told I’d forget, that I’d convince myself it wasn’t real, and I don’t want that to happen. Something strange and frightening and wonderful is out there, and I want to remember.

Brief intro: I’m a graduate student working my way through university as a librarian in a large city where housing isn’t exactly cheap. I currently live in a house with four other people whom I’ll refer to as Jack, Diane, Tommy and Gina. Jack and Diane are a couple, Tommy and Gina are both gay, and then there’s me.

A few months ago, we were just another group of friends trying to make ends meet. One day, Jack and Diane told us they’d found a great fixer-upper house at an amazing price, and if we’d go in with them, we could all live there for cheaper than living in our various apartments. We visited the house, decided it was a good idea, and next thing you know, we’re all moving in.

The house was built sometime in the 1930s, and it had been inhabited on and off. There were things, looking back, that should’ve been red flags. Among them was the fact that there were “layers” of renovations. To explain, the living room and master suite (which Jack and Diane took) looked vaguely ‘80s, the kitchen was almost modern, with appliances that were only a little out of date, my room and the bathroom upstairs had that distinct horrible ‘70s flair, there was a 20-year-old washer/dryer set in the laundry room, Tommy’s room and the bathroom on the first floor looked sort of ‘50s, and Gina’s room looked even older. But the place was perfectly habitable; the plumbing and wiring were up to code, the heating system was a bit archaic, but worked, and the “bones” of the house, as they say, were still good.

There was also stuff that had obviously been left behind by previous owners. We considered it lucky that a functioning washer and dryer had been left, as well as all the kitchen appliances, and it’s not unreasonable that someone moving would leave such bulky things behind. But other things weren’t so easy to explain. There was stuff left in the bathroom like half-full bottles of shampoo and conditioner and other toiletries. A whole set of dishes had been left in the kitchen cabinets, and quality stuff, too. We kept finding clothes lurking in dark corners. Toys, too.

Looking back, it was as if a family had very hastily left, taking only what they could pack into their car. The real estate agent probably got rid of all the perishable food in the kitchen and cleaned up the place a bit, maybe hauled off some stuff, but there were definitely signs something was wrong. We ignored it because of the great price without considering why the price was so low that a bunch of starving grad students could afford it.

At first, things were pretty normal. Yeah, the house was kind of creepy, but I figured renovations would take care of that. Gina’s room was the creepiest, with its stained walls and threadbare carpet, so we tackled it first. We re-painted the walls, pulled up the carpet and varnished the floor (which was actually really nice hardwood underneath) and replaced the window. It looked great.

But right after we started renovating, strange things started happening. Small items went missing and turned up in strange places. We’d catch figures moving out of the corners of our eyes, but nothing would be there when we looked. The electricity flickered, doors opened and closed on their own – basically, the whole suite of “this house is haunted” shit was going down.

It took us a while to admit it. We kept doing renovations, and day by day, things got stranger. We started seeing shadow men and other ghostly figures. We’d hear voices, or someone moving around upstairs while we were all downstairs. Things fell off walls or tables with no explanation. Worst of all, we felt a constant, hostile presence in the house. It was like a pressure that would only let up when you were out of the house.

And we all had nightmares. The guys dreamed they were angry, murderously so. We girls had dreams that we were running, hiding from someone in the house. Everyone was on edge. When we finally started talking about it, no one knew what to do. Gina brought in some old religious items her grandma had left her: a crucifix, a picture of the Virgin Mary, a rosary. Diane burned some sage. Tommy started obsessively researching all kinds of paranormal stuff. Jack, meanwhile, was spending as much time as he could away. He confessed later that it was because in his dreams, he was chasing Diane, attacking her. I think it might’ve been worse than even that, though; Jack did a tour in Iraq, and even talking about what he’d seen there didn’t make him look as sick as those dreams did.

The thing is, we couldn’t leave. We’d buried all our money in this house. Tommy found some paranormal researchers in the city, but they all cost more money we didn’t have. We were trapped.

Tommy researched the house, too. We found out it'd had multiple owners, changing hands again and again over the years. We also found out that one of the previous owners, a woman who'd lived there in the '70s, had killed herself in the house. Tommy couldn't find anything about the original owners or, for that matter much of anything at all before the '70s.

I worked as much as I could. It was summer, and I wasn’t in classes, so I spent all the time I could at the library, which is very large and very old. It got me away from the poisonous atmosphere at home, but . . . I guess once you’ve started attracting that kind of attention in the spirit world, it starts coming for you everywhere. I started seeing ghosts and shadow men at work.

I’ve always been an upbeat, optimistic person, but for the first time in my life, I started to fall into depression. I wasn’t sleeping enough, I wasn’t eating well, I was constantly stressed, and I felt helpless to change any of it.

And then he showed up again.

Two summers ago, a fifteen-year-old boy came to the library and shyly asked me if we had books about being gay. He was kind of Goth-looking, but had this oddly angelic face. His first name was Nico, and please don’t ask me anything else about him. In spite of everything I witnessed, I still feel strangely protective of him.

Anyway, there was something so sweetly vulnerable about him that I just wanted to hug him and tell him everything would be all right, maybe introduce him to Tommy so he could talk with someone who understood what he was going through. Since I couldn’t do that, I gave him some books and other resources, he thanked me, and I didn’t expect to ever see him again.

I did, though, the following summer. He came in with this cute blond guy called Will, his boyfriend, and he thanked me for my help again. He seemed really happy. I saw him a couple more times after that, but it wasn’t like he was one of my regulars.

When I saw him a few days ago, he was with Will again. They were laughing about something when I ran into them. Nico and his boyfriend immediately recognized me, and he smiled at me. But then his eyes flickered to something behind me, and he lost his smile.

I could feel it, the thing he was looking at. It was another shadow man, and it had been following me around, but most people can’t see them. Nico looked right at it. And he looked angry.

I had to confirm what I was thinking, so I said, “You can see it?”

He nodded, looking even angrier. “Why is it haunting you?” he asked.

The whole story just came pouring out of me. I told him about the house and everything that had been happening, and how completely helpless I felt. Will came over and comforted me as I spoke. His hands were so warm, like sunlight. That’s the most vivid memory I have of that conversation, how warm Will’s hands were.

Nico listened to my whole story in silence, looking like he not only believed every word, but understood it better than I did. When I was done, he looked at Will and asked, “How is she?”

Will said something to the tune of, “She has darkness in her system. It’s impacting her health.” I didn’t understand that, but he added that I needed food and sleep and was under too much stress, which was the truth. I had no idea how he knew, but he did.

Nico just nodded once, and he looked over at the shadow man and said, “Begone.” Just like that, it was gone. I watched it disappear. And then he – Nico – looked at me and said, “Take me to your house.”

I didn’t know what was happening, but I felt like it was important, so I begged off of work early. I didn’t even have to lie, since I had a pounding headache by that time. It was Saturday and no one else was working, so I texted everyone to meet me at the house. By the time I got there with Nico and Will, all of my housemates were there as well. They were all looking at me with expressions of pure “What the hell is going on?” on their faces.

Nico walked in like he owned the place. The minute he crossed the threshold, the whispers started. _“Ghost King.” “Prince of Hades.” “Stygian.”_ And, again and again, his name. Nico set his duffel bag down and pulled out, God’s honest truth, a sword. A black sword.

“You know who I am,” he announced to the air. “The girl’s been kind to me. That’s the sort of thing I don’t forget. You’re hurting her. I know some of you don’t mean to, but you are. So, show yourselves. Do it willingly, or I will make you.”

I was standing with Will, who was holding my hand. I asked him what was happening. He just smiled at me and said, “It’s what he does.”

What happened next is hard to describe. It feels like a dream to me now, but I know it happened. The room became crowded with spirits, visible spirits. Some were shadow men. Others were sort of amorphous, barely there. There was one woman in an outfit straight out of the ‘70s, and a man in a business suit who looked more than a little like Don Draper.

But the strongest, brightest spirits were two girls and a boy. The boy looked like he was in his early teens. One of the girls looked like she might be a little older, and the other girl looked like she was maybe eight or nine. They were all dressed in 1930s fashions.

The little girl walked up to Nico and took his hand. His fingers actually curled around hers, like her hand was solid to him. He leaned down, and she spoke to him. I couldn’t make out what she said; it was like I was hearing her voice through water. He seemed to understand her, though.

He started talking. He told us that there’d been a family that lived in the house, back when it was first built, a father and three children. The mother was dead. The father was a strict man who grew even stricter and more controlling after his wife’s death. The children were afraid of him; he had violent fits of anger in which he would berate them for hours or even beat them. The older sister had tried to protect her siblings, only to draw her father’s wrath. One day, he beat her so badly that she lost sight in one of her eyes and began to suffer seizures. Her brother stepped in, then, trying to take care of his sisters.

His father killed him. Maybe it was an accident, maybe not, but when the father saw what he’d done, he killed the two girls as well. 

“He’s still here,” said Nico. “He never left. He’s a spirit of madness, a _mania_.” He pronounced it like mah-nia. “They attract other malevolent spirits, like these pests.” Nico made a gesture, and all of the shadow men and amorphous spirits clustered together. Then he waved that black sword through them, and it absorbed them. In seconds, they were gone. The human spirits remained. “The _mania_ has been here, tormenting people, for seventy years.” He looked at the woman and man. “These two killed themselves because of it, and he still holds them here. He holds his children here.” He raised his voice. “It’s time to show yourself.”

At those words, the house shook. Things fell off the walls, and I could hear thumps from upstairs.

“If that’s your attitude . . .” Nico shrugged. “We’ll do this the hard way.” He closed his eyes and reached out one hand. Then he made a gesture like he was pulling something toward himself.

It was like the air pressure in the room increased; I expected my ears to pop. It wasn’t physical, though. The oppressive sense of absolute hostility that I’d felt for months intensified to the point of being unbearable. I heard myself whimpering, and Will wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

The ghost – the _mania_ – appeared. I don’t even know how to describe it. It looked like a man, but horribly distorted, monstrous. His insanity and hatred were all that was left of him. The spirits of his children, and of the man and the woman he’d tormented to death, cringed and tried to pull away from him, but he drew them in closer.

“Weaklings!” shouted the _mania_. “This is my house.”

His voice physically hurt me. I heard sobbing from nearby, maybe Gina or Diane. I couldn’t take my eyes off what was happening in front of me.

“This isn’t your house. Not anymore. And these people are not weak. Your children stood up to you. They all did – until you killed them.” Nico drew a bronze dagger from his bag. “Out of respect for the human you once were, I’ll disperse you instead of trapping you in my sword.”

Things started rattling again, and I watched as a bowl of apples lifted off the counter. I shouted Nico’s name to warn him just as it flew at his head. He ducked out of the way easily, pivoted, and slashed the dagger through the _mania_.

It fell apart and faded away, and the oppressive presence instantly lifted. It was like I could breathe deeply after half-suffocating for months.

Nico walked over to the man in the suit. “You’re free to go now; be at peace.” The spirit faded away. Nico repeated the same words to the woman, who also faded.

Then he addressed the children. The little girl spoke to him again, and he shook his head, smiling a little. “It doesn’t work that way, little sister; spirits of the dead can’t stay with the living. It’s time for you to move on.” She then asked him a question; I could tell from her inflection. Nico nodded, looking sad. “Yes, you can stay together. Don’t be afraid. Be free. Be at peace.”

The children faded away, and the house suddenly felt strangely empty. Nico sagged a little, and Will let me go and went to him.

“You all right?” Will asked him.

Nico nodded and said, “Just tired. I-I think this place could use some sunlight.”

Will looked around. And then he began to sing. The song was in another language; I couldn’t understand the words, but it sounded . . . otherworldly. Ancient. And it was beautiful. As he sang, Wil walked around, opening curtains and shade, letting the sunlight in.

There was something magical going on. The headache I’d had went away, my muscles relaxed, and I began to feel at ease for the first time since we’d moved in. The sun chased away the shadows, and the song . . . it was like it diffused the darkness Will said was in me. When I looked at my friends, they looked so peaceful, like they were feeling the same thing I was.

While Will sang his song, Nico casually packed his sword and dagger back into his bag. As soon as the song was over, they left.

I was too stunned to move for a second, but then my brain kicked in and I ran after them. I caught up with them as they reached the front gate and pretty much demanded to know what the hell just happened.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Nico. “In another few hours, you probably won’t even remember.”

“You think I’m going to forget that?” I asked. “You two – who are you? What are you?”

They looked at each other, and Will said, “That’s not something we can tell you. But your problems here are over.”

Nico was pulling his jacket back on, and I suddenly noticed that he had scars on his arms. His shirt sleeve pulled up a little, and I could see what looked like claw marks there. I read fantasy novels, and I began to get this idea that maybe they weren’t all fantasy after all. Maybe the world is stranger and deeper than we know. “I don’t understand,” I said. “You two, you’re just kids.”

The moment I said it, I suddenly felt like no, they weren’t. Nico, in particular, looked somehow old. On one hand, he looked like a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy. On the other, he felt almost ancient. I can’t explain it.

Nico took my shoulder very gently. “Listen, there are things that go on in this world that are hidden from your eyes. There’s a reason for that. In another twenty-four hours, you’ll have convinced yourself this never happened, and that gay Goth guy is just another weird kid.” He smiled a little. “It’s okay. This is over, for you. I was happy to help. We both were.”

All I could think of to ask was, “Why did you? I’m just a librarian who helped you find some books one time.”

Will chuckled and set a hand on Nico’s shoulder. “This guy knows how to hold a grudge, but the flip side of that is that he never forgets a kindness.”

“Will’s right,” said Nico. “You helped me more than you’ll ever know that day. I’ve learned the value of kindness over the years. How rare it is.” He let go of me. “I doubt you’ll ever see me again, but if you ever need me . . . look for me in your dreams. You’ll find me.”

And then these two strange, beautiful boys walked away.

When I got back to the house, everyone was acting like nothing had happened. They were happy, talking about maybe barbecuing for dinner. When I said something about the house being haunted, they all laughed and made jokes about it.

They didn’t remember, just like Nico and Will said. I went up to my bedroom and wrote everything down as quickly as I could, including as much of what was actually said as I could remember. Some of this probably isn’t completely factual, but it’s as close as I can get it.

It’s been three days. The house has been quiet. It feels good, welcoming. My housemates don’t remember a thing of Nico and Will’s visit, but they’ve been happy and at ease in a way they haven’t been since we moved in. A couple of times, I’ve thought maybe it was a dream. But I know it happened. I remember how awful the last few months were, and how everything changed in one day. They said I’d forget, but I didn’t. I don’t know why.

So I’m putting this here, because no one else will believe me. Believe what you want, but I know there’s more going on than any of us know. But there are at least two boys who are here to help.


End file.
